Mtesitl 


GIFT   OF 
v*  h  e  / 


LEONARD     WOOD 

ON 

NATIONAL  ISSUES 


From  a  drawing  by  Boardman  Robin*. 

LEONARD   WOOD 


LEONARD  WOOD 

ON 

NATIONAL  ISSUES 

The  Many- Sided  Mind  of  a  Great  Executive 
Shown  by  His  Public  Utterances 

COMPILED  BY 

EVAN  J.    DAVID 

With  a  Foreword  by  Edward  S.  Van  Zile 


GARDEN  CITY  NEW  YORK 

DOUBLEDAY,    PAGE    &    COMPANY 

1920 


V 


COPYRIGHT,   1920,  BY 

DOURLEDAY,  PAGE  &  COMPANY. 

ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED,  INCLUDING  THAT  OF 

TRANSLATION  INTO  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES 

INCLUDING   THE    SCANDINAVIAN 


To 

FREDERICK    MOORE 

A  Friend  and  Fellow 

of  my  own  Craft 


4! 4730 


FOREWORD 

WHATEVER  may  be  the  outcome  of  the 
Presidential  contest  of  1920,  the  fact  has  been 
well  established  that  Major  General  Leonard 
Wood  has  won  for  himself  a  permanent  place 
among  the  truly  great  Americans  of  this 
generation,  and  that  his  personality  and 
achievements  will  be  accorded  attentive  study 
by  all  historians  who  may  endeavor  to  give  to 
posterity  an  accurate  account  of  our  country's 
influence  upon  the  destinies  of  mankind  dur 
ing  the  epoch-making  first  quarter  of  the 
twentieth  century.  In  presenting  to  the  pub 
lic,  therefore,  the  many-sided  personality  of 
Leonard  Wood  as  revealed  through  his  writ 
ings  and  speeches,  Mr.  David,  the  compiler  of 
this  timely  volume,  has  been  inspired  by  the 
belief  that  his  work  was  not  ephemeral,  that 
there  would  be  permanent  value  in  a  collection 
of  this  virile,  versatile  American's  public  utter 
ances  regarding  the  vital  questions  that  agitate 
a  period  overwhelmed  by  the  vast  significance 
of  the  problems  it  is  called  upon  to  solve. 

The   cynic  who   asserted  that   speech  was 

vii 


viii  Foreword 

vouchsafed  to  us  that  we  might  manage  to  con 
ceal  our  thoughts  must  have  associated  with 
men  of  a  type  with  which  Leonard  Wood  has 
nothing  in  common.  His  clear  thinking  leads 
him  irresistibly  to  clarity  of  expression,  and  his 
intrinsic  sincerity,  his  romantically  varied  ex 
periences  of  life,  his  supreme  courage  and  the 
white  heat  of  his  patriotism  combine  to  give 
to  his  views  on  the  basic  principles  involved  in 
our  present  national  and  international  compli 
cations  a  significance  that  will  outlast  any  con 
nection  they  may  seemingly  have  with  the 
political  activities  of  the  moment. 

Convinced,  as  the  compiler  is,  that  Leonard 
Wood's  attitude  toward  the  vital  problems  of 
our  generation  is  an  integral  part  of  the  his 
tory  of  our  time,  of  import  to  the  future  as 
well  as  to  the  present,  the  endeavor  has  been 
made  in  the  following  pages  to  throw  upon 
many  vexed  questions  the  illuminating  light  of 
this  great  leader's  trained  mind,  a  mind  free 
from  visionary  tendencies,  clear,  logical,  broad 
ly  sympathetic,  and  always  American  in  its 
contact  with  contemporary  issues. 

The  Standard  Dictionary  defines  a  states 
man  as  "a  man  versed  in  the  arts  of  govern 
ment."  To  his  mental  and  temperamental 


Foreword  ix 

qualifications  for  statesmanship,  Leonard 
Wood  has  added  the  illuminating  experiences 
of  an  administrator  in  several  parts  of  the 
world,  an  experience  that  has  given  to  him  an 
enviable  reputation  in  his  own  country  and 
among  foreigners  as  one  "versed  in  the  arts  of 
government."  It  required  the  forcefulness 
combined  with  tact  of  a  thoroughly-equipped 
statesman  to  bring  order  out  of  chaos  to  Cuba, 
opportunity  for  advancement  to  the  Philip 
pines  and  law-enforcement  without  bloodshed 
to  Gary,  Ind. 

In  presenting  to  the  public  the  following 
diversified  evidences  of  Leonard  Wood's  mas 
terly  grasp  of  the  great  problems  of  our  gen 
eration,  Mr.  David  wishes  to  express  his 
thanks  for  courtesies  extended  to  him  by  the 
Outlook,  the  Metropolitan  Magazine,  the 
Ladies'  Home  Journal,  P.  F.  Collier  &  Son, 
Reilly  and  Britton  and  Mr.  F.  L.  Huidekoper. 

In  conclusion,  permit  me  to  say  that  my 
knowledge  regarding  the  career  of  the  com 
piler  increases  the  pleasure  I  have  taken  in 
writing  this  foreword.  Mr.  David's  early 
career  was  spent  in  manual  labor  in  coal  mines. 
Ambitious  and  courageous,  he  worked  his  way 
through  Harvard  University,  and  has,  through 


x  Foreword 

industry  and  ability,  become  a  writer  of  books 
and  magazine  articles.  The  broad  sympathies 
that  his  varied  contacts  with  life  have  given 
him  naturally  make  of  him  an  enthusiastic  ad 
mirer  of  Leonard  Wood,  who  also  worked  his 
way  through  Harvard  University  and  is,  like 
Mr.  David,  a  many-sided  lover  of  his  kind. 

EDWARD  S.  VAN  ZILE. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Frontispiece 

FOREWORD        .......        vii 

INDEX     ........         xi 

THE   COMPILER'S    INTRODUCTION          .  .  .       xiii 

How  CUBA  WON  SELF-DETERMINATION        .  .          3 

CAPITAL^  LABOR  AND  THE  GOLDEN  RULE      .  .        19 

AMERICAN  WOMEN — TODAY  AND  TOMORROW          .        27 
WAR  AND  PEACE       ......        33 

THE   LEAGUE   OF   NATIONS          .  .  .  .45 

THE  FARMER — His  RIGHTS  AND  WRONGS       .  .        49 

TEACHERS,  MOULDERS  OF  THE  FUTURE          .  .        59 

IMMIGRATION    WITHOUT    ASSIMILATION          .  .        63 

OUR   DEFENSIVE  WEAPONS          .  .  .  .71 

AMERICANIZATION      ......        75 

ARBITRATION — ITS  VALUE  AND  LIMITATIONS  .        83 

NEEDED — SOUND  MINDS  IN  SOUND  BODIES   .  .        89 

ORGANIZED  GOOD  SAMARITANS    ....        97 

No   PARLEY  WITH  THE   REDS      ....      103 

OUR  DUTY  TO  OUR  VETERANS   ....      109 

SOLDIERS  AS  LIFE-SAVERS  .  .  .  .115 

OUR  PROGRAM  IN  A  NUTSHELL  .          .  .121 

GROVER   CLEVELAND  .  .          .          .  .123 

THEODORE   ROOSEVELT  125 


THE  COMPILER'S  INTRODUCTION 


IN  COMPILING  this  book  the  object  has 
been  to  collect  representative  statements  from 
the  speeches  and  writings  of  General  Leonard 
Wood  on  national  problems.  At  first  the  idea 
was  to  confine  the  volume  to  selections  from 
Wood's  recent  speeches  and  writings  which 
touch  on  present-day  affairs,  but  on  investiga 
tion  it  was  soon  discovered  that  much  else  that 
Wood  had  said  was  well  worth  including. 

While  it  is  true  that  Wood  has  not  been  able 
to  take  the  time  to  give  exhaustive  treatment 
to  some  topics  which  he  has  discussed,  yet  it 
is  a  fact  that,  in  the  brief  statements  which  he 
has  made,  he  has  singled  out  the  cardinal  prin 
ciples  of  the  issues,  and  has  clearly  enunciated 
his  position  on  each  particular  subject  in  hand, 
displaying  his  analytical  method  in  arriving  at 
conclusions.  This  is  especially  true  of  his 
speeches  upon  Americanization,  the  Reds,  and 
Farm  Problems. 

In  all  his  writings  and  speeches,  Leonard 
Wood  reveals  his  sterling  patriotism,  his  clear 
vision  and  the  high  moral  platform  from 

xiii 


xiv  The  Compiler's 

which  he  judges  every  issue.  Always  his  point 
of  view  seems  to  be  the  greatest  good  for  the 
greatest  number;  always  he  places  his  country 
first.  Always  his  sympathies  are  with  the  op 
pressed,  the  down-trodden  and  the  unfortu 
nate.  Always  his  statements  are  delivered 
with  the  object  of  righteousness,  uplift  and 
patriotism.  His  broad  human  sympathy  can 
be  compared  only  with  that  of  his  friend,  the 
late  Theodore  Roosevelt. 

ii 

GENERAL  WOOD'S  style,  as  revealed 
in  his  speeches  and  writings,  is  best  explained 
in  his  own  words  when  speaking  of  the  style 
of  Roosevelt: 

"In  speech  he  was  simple  and  direct.  His 
purpose  was  to  go  directly  to  the  heart  of  his 
subject  in  the  simplest  and  clearest  language; 
he  used  words  to  convey  ideas,  never  to  be 
fuddle  the  public.  .  .  .  You  know  ex 
actly  what  he  means  when  you  finish  what  he 
has  written;  there  are  no  empty  phrases  nor 
glittering,  unsound  idealism,  but  just  a  plain 
statement  of  those  simple  truths  which  are  the 
wisdom  of  the  ages,  the  deductions  of  right 
thinking  men  and  women." 


Introduction 


xv 


General  Wood  uses  very  few  figures  of 
speech.  His  language  is  the  simple  language 
of  the  Bible  and  Abraham  Lincoln.  His 
vocabulary  consists  largely  of  words  derived 
from  the  Anglo-Saxon  rather  than  from  the 
Latin.  He  makes  no  attempt  at  the  use  of 
symbolism  which  may  confuse,  or  convey  a 
doubtful  meaning.  Practically  no  ornamenta 
tion  is  contained  in  the  General's  speeches  or 
writings.  When  he  does  use  a  figure  of  speech, 
it  is  usually  very  clear  and  graphic,  such  as  the 
one  in  which  he  compared  Roosevelt  to  a 
boulder  standing  solid  against  the  on-rushing 
waters,  or  when  he  complained  that  unre 
stricted  immigration  to  America  was  putting 
too  much  sand  into  our  concrete.  Like  Gen 
eral  Grant  in  his  autobiography,  General 
Wood  uses  the  speech  and  the  language  of 
the  soldier ;  it  is  direct,  forceful  and  clear,  and 
is  never  employed  for  any  other  purpose  than 
to  drive  home  an  argument.  This  gives  a 
ruggedness  and  strength  to  the  General's 
speeches  and  writings  that  remind  one  of  the 
hills  and  mountains  of  his  native  New  Eng 
land,  and  reveal  the  eminently  substantial, 
solid,  determined,  dignified  character  of  the 
man.  His  words  are  full  of  sincerity,  honesty 


xvi  The  Compiler's 

and  sterling  integrity,  such  as  we  always  asso 
ciate  with  the  character  and  writings  of 
Abraham  Lincoln. 

in 

IT  MAY  be  said  by  some  that  the  selections 
do  not  cover  every  question  before  the  Ameri 
can  public  at  the  present  time.  That  may  be 
true,  but  the  most  important  and  vital  ones  are 
certainly  treated  very  definitely  and  very 
clearly.  In  extenuation  it  can  be  said  that 
Leonard  Wood  has  been  too  busy  of  late  with 
his  multifarious  duties  as  Commander  of  the 
Central  Department — where  so  many  of  the 
great  strikes  and  disorders  occurred  during 
the  year  1919 — to  go  on  record  on  every  sub 
ject.  And  he  has  also  been  hampered  or  re 
strained  by  the  fact  that  as  an  officer  in  the 
army  he  could  not  at  all  times  speak  freely. 

In  regard  to  Internationalism,  General 
Wood  had  written  a  great  deal  before  we  en 
tered  the  war.  How  far  his  views  have  been 
modified  by  the  Great  War  can  be  perceived 
by  reading  his  more  recent  references  to  the 
subject.  Extensive  quotations  from  those 
writings  show  the  reasons  why  he  takes  the 
stand  that  he  does.  Since  the  armistice  he  has 


Introduction  xvu 

also  gone  on  record  to  the  effect  that  he  does 
not  believe  that  the  League  of  Nations  will 
abolish  war;  and  he  states  that  the  treaty 
should  be  adopted  with  the  Lodge  reser 
vations. 

In  regard  to  his  position  on  the  Labor  ques 
tion,  perhaps  it  ought  to  be  stated  here  that 
General  Wood,  while  at  Gary,  did  not  limit 
free  speech,  provided  nothing  hostile  to  our 
form  of  government  was  said  and  provided  no 
words  were  uttered  to  incite  the  strikers  to 
violate  law  and  order.  He  allowed  the  strikers 
to  meet  in  their  halls  and  he  granted  Mr.  John 
Fitzpatrick,  leader  of  the  steel  workers'  or 
ganization,  the  privilege  of  addressing  the 
strikers  in  the  public  square  after  Mr.  Fitz 
patrick  had  given  General  Wood  his  word  that 
nothing  to  incite  disorder  would  be  uttered. 
Mr.  Fitzpatrick  kept  his  word.  General 
Wood  also  permitted  pickets  to  be  stationed 
by  the  strikers,  but  he  would  not  allow  them 
to  intimidate  any  man  or  to  coerce  or  interfere 
with  any  person  who  wished  to  go  to  work. 
The  same  thing  was  true  in  the  coal  fields  of 
West  Virginia.  In  this  way,  by  his  tact,  Gen 
eral  Wood  prevented  bloodshed  and  no  prop 
erty  was  destroyed  during  the  time  that  his 


xviii  The  Compiler's 

troops   occupied   those   districts,   nor   was   a 
single  shot  fired. 

IV 

ON  THE  matter  of  preparedness,  General 
Wood  believes  that  a  small  standing  army  of 
225,000  men  is  sufficient,  but  he  also  believes 
that  the  physically  fit  young  men  of  the  land 
ought  to  have  six  months'  intensive  training  in 
their  nineteenth  year. 

The  Reds  and  the  I.  W.  Ws.  General  Wood 
has  very  vehemently  denounced.  To  quote  his 
own  words,  "There  is  no  room  for  the  red  flag 
in  this  country,"  and  "we  should  kill  it  as  we 
would  a  snake."  But  while  at  times  allowing 
himself  such  liberty  of  expression,  he  has  also 
explained  very  carefully  and  definitely  that 
any  and  all  action  against  those  who  would 
destroy  our  government  should  be  orderly  and 
within  the  law. 

No  man  in  the  country  was  better  able  to 
appreciate  and  analyze  the  character  of  Theo 
dore  Roosevelt  than  General  Wood.  This  was 
due  to  their  long  and  intimate  friendship  and 
to  the  fact  that  they  had  worked  out  so  many 
problems  together.  This  section  of  the  work 
is  illuminating,  for  it  may  be  clearly  seen  that 


Introduction  xix 

Wood,  in  his  analysis  of  the  former  President, 
has  given  an  explanation  of  the  underlying 
sentiments  which  Wood  shared,  and  which 
have  shaped  his  opinions  and  beliefs. 

In  urging  Americanization,  General  Wood 
has  touched  upon  the  cardinal  evils  that  now 
threaten  the  country  and  has  suggested 
remedies. 

General  Wood's  familiarity  with  educa 
tional  problems  in  Cuba  and  his  views  on  the 
importance  of  education  as  a  means  of  Ameri 
canization  and  progress  clearly  show  that  the 
teachers  who  instruct  our  children  should  cer 
tainly  be  paid  better  if  we  hope  to  get  the  right 
kind  of  instructors  to  perform  that  important 
task. 


LIKE  Theodore  Roosevelt,  Leonard 
Wood  knew  the  important  part  that  women 
would  play  in  the  forming  of  the  policies  of 
the  Nation  in  the  future  and  gave  expression 
to  his  views  on  this  timely  and  vital  subject. 

In  regard  to  the  Farm  Problems,  Leonard 
Wood's  extensive  travels  and  keen  observa 
tion  in  all  sections  of  the  United  States  to 
gether  with  the  fact  that  he  was  brought  up  in 


xx          The  Compiler's  Introduction 

a  rural  community  make  his  views  on  agricul 
tural  subjects  carry  considerable  weight. 

Although  this  volume  is  not  exhaustive,  it 
contains  much  that  should  be  inspiring  to  true 
Americans,  and  no  matter  how  much  we  differ 
with  General  Wood  in  regard  to  the  way  in 
which  certain  problems  should  be  solved,  we 
cannot  gainsay  the  fact  that  he  is  animated 
by  sincerity  and  patriotism  and  that  his  say 
ings  reveal  the  sterling  honesty  and  integrity 
of  the  man.  In  the  following  pages  General 
Wood  will  speak  for  himself,  and  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  the  cumulative  effect  of  his 
splendid  and  inspiring  outpourings  regarding 
the  vital  issues  of  the  day  will  convince  every 
open-minded  reader  that  among  the  great 
Americans  of  our  time  there  is  none  greater 
than  Leonard  Wood. 

EVAN  J.  DAVID 


LEONARD     WOOD 

ON 

NATIONAL  ISSUES 


LEONARD  WOOD  ON  NATIONAL 
ISSUES 

How  CUBA  WON  SELF-DETERMINATION 


THE  purpose  of  our  military  government 
of  Cuba,  after  the  Spanish  War,  was  to  pre 
pare  the  Cubans  for  self-government  and  to 
establish  conditions  which  would  render  the 
establishment  of  a  Cuban  republic  possible  and 
its  orderly  and  successful  maintenance  prob 
able.  The  occupation  of  Cuba  began  with  the 
occupation  of  the  city  of  Santiago  and  ex 
tended  rapidly  over  the  province  of  the  same 
name.  The  territory  occupied  by  the  military 
forces  of  the  United  States  prior  to  the  gen 
eral  transfer  of  the  Island,  January  1,  1899, 
was  limited  to  this  province.  Conditions  in 
Santiago  at  the  time  of  occupancy  were  as  un 
favorable  as  can  be  imagined.  Yellow  fever, 
pernicious  malaria  and  intestinal  fevers  were 
all  prevalent  to  an  alarming  extent.  The  city 

3 


Leonard  Wood 


and  surrounding  country  were  full  of  sick 
Spanish  soldiers,  starving  Cubans  and  the 
sick  of  their  own  army.  The  sanitary  condi 
tions  were  indescribably  bad.  There  was  little 
or  no  water  available  and  the  conditions  were 
such  as  can  be  imagined  to  exist  in  a  tropical 
city  following  a  siege  and  capture  in  the  most 
unhealthy  season  of  the  year. 

The  first  work  undertaken  was  feeding  the 
starving,  taking  care  of  the  sick,  cleaning  up 
and  removing  the  dangerous  material  in  the 
city.  In  addition  to  correcting  these  local  con 
ditions,  it  was  necessary  to  send  food  and 
medicine  throughout  the  province,  maintain 
order,  re-establish  municipal  government,  re 
organize  the  courts,  and  do  the  thousand  and 
one  things  incident  to  re-establishing  the  sem 
blance  of  government  in  a  stricken  and  de 
moralized  community.  The  actual  difficulties 
were  increased  by  the  fact  that  the  people  with 
whom  we  had  to  deal  spoke  a  foreign  language 
with  which  few  of  us  were  familiar.  The  death 
rate  among  our  own  troops  was  heavy  and  the 
percentage  of  sick  appalling.  The  regulars 
and  volunteers  engaged  in  the  siege  and  cap 
ture  of  the  city  were  withdrawn  late  in  August 
and  their  places  filled  with  one  regiment  of 


On  National  Issues  5 

regulars  and  a  number  of  regiments  of  volun 
teers.  The  arrival  of  these  green  troops  in  the 
height  of  the  unhealthy  season  was  a  cause  of 
grave  anxiety  and  their  care  required  unusual 
precautions.  By  this  time  the  city  had  been 
cleaned;  the  death  rate  greatly  checked;  food 
had  been  sent  by  pack  train  to  the  interior  and 
by  sea  to  the  various  seaport  towns  of  the 
province  and  couriers  had  been  sent  through 
the  country  to  inform  the  inhabitants  where 
they  could  procure  food  and  medicine ;  custom 
houses  had  been  established  at  all  the  ports  and 
with  the  funds  collected  from  this  source  pub 
lic  works  had  already  been  undertaken. 


II 


THE  first  public  works  were  carried  out 
in  the  city  of  Santiago  to  drain  certain  un 
healthy  surroundings  of  the  city,  improve  the 
water  supply  and  render  the  place  more  habit 
able.  The  purpose  of  the  public  works  was 
not  only  to  improve  conditions,  but  to  give 
occupation  to  the  thousands  of  idle  people,  in 
cluding  disbanded  soldiers  of  the  Cuban  army. 
Some  were  paid  in  money  and  some  in  rations. 
Every  effort  was  made  to  get  the  people  out 


6  Leonard  Wood 

to  their  homes  in  the  country,  and,  with  this  in 
view,  men  were  furnished  with  a  few  necessary 
agricultural  implements  and  food  enough  for 
a  month  and  sent  out  to  their  homes.  In  this 
way  thousands  of  idle  people  about  the  city 
were  disposed  of  and  placed  upon  their  own 
property,  and  surrounded  with  those  mem 
bers  of  their  families  who  had  survived  the  war 
and  its  consequences. 

A  rural  guard  composed  of  Cubans  was 
rapidly  organized  for  the  maintenance  of 
order  in  the  rural  districts.  During  this  period 
troops  were  also  used  for  this  purpose.  As 
soon  as  conditions  of  actual  starvation  had 
been  done  away  with,  and  the  worst  features 
of  the  sanitary  situation  improved,  steps  were 
taken  to  organize  municipal  government  in  the 
various  towns.  There  was  no  time  to  write  an 
electoral  law  and  put  it  in  force.  The  method 
adopted  was  to  go  to  a  town,  assemble  from 
sixty  to  one  hundred  men  representing  all 
classes  of  the  people  and  ask  them  to  name 
municipal  officers  and  to  present  their  list  as 
soon  as  completed.  In  this  way  the  officials  of 
all  the  municipalities  of  the  province  were  in 
time  appointed.  Temporary  regulations  were 
drawn  up  governing  local  taxation.  Stores 


On  National  Issues  7 

and  business  houses  were  divided  into  classes 
and  were  required  to  pay  so  much  per  month 
to  the  municipal  treasury.  Under  the  means 
so  procured,  municipal  governments  were 
started.  Expenses  were  kept  at  the  lowest 
figure. 


in 


AS  SOON  as  a  municipal  government  was 
organized,  steps  were  taken  to  temporarily  re 
lieve  the  situation  in  each  municipality,  and 
medicine,  food  and  assistance  were  given  those 
most  needful  of  it.  The  next  step  was  to  es 
tablish  village  schools  in  all  the  different  towns. 
In  October  the  Spanish  garrison,  consisting  of 
twelve  thousand  men,  was  withdrawn  from  the 
northwest  portion  of  the  province.  Upon  the 
withdrawal  it  was  found  that  smallpox  was 
epidemic  in  most  of  the  towns  that  they  had 
occupied  and  an  investigation  showed  that 
there  were  approximately  three  thousand  cases 
of  smallpox  existing  in  the  Holguin  district 
and  that  the  disease  was  of  a  malignant  type. 
Six  hundred  men  of  the  2d  Immunes  under 
Colonel  Hood  were  vaccinated  and  re-vacci- 
uated,  under  the  careful  supervision  of  their 


8  Leonard  Wood 

surgeons.  When  this  was  completed  they 
were  all  sent  into  the  infected  districts  accom 
panied  by  several  extra  medical  officers  and 
charged  with  the  suppression  of  the  epidemic, 
a  work  which  was  soon  completed.  Some 
twelve  hundred  cases  of  smallpox  were  treated 
in  hospitals.  Small  settlements  (made  up  as 
a  rule  of  thatched  houses ) ,  where  it  was  most 
prevalent,  were  burned.  Settlements  contain 
ing  buildings  of  permanent  construction  were 
thoroughly  disinfected,  and  some  thirty  thou 
sand  people  vaccinated.  The  efforts  taken  were 
effective  in  bringing  the  disease  to  a  summary 
conclusion,  and  since  this  epidemic  Cuba  has 
been  free  from  smallpox.  As  an  illustration 
of  the  efficiency  of  vaccination,  it  can  be  stated 
that  there  was  not  a  case  of  smallpox  among 
troops  sent  into  the  districts. 


IV 


WITH  the  stamping  out  of  this  epidemic, 
the  worst  features  of  the  sanitary  situation 
were  removed,  and  affairs  began  to  have  a 
more  hopeful  outlook,  and  at  the  end  of  the 
year  the  province  was  orderly  and  fairly 
healthy ;  municipal  governments  were  running, 


On  National  Issues  9 

with  rather  crude  machinery  to  be  sure,  but 
performing  the  necessary  functions.  Nearly 
two  hundred  public  schools  had  been  estab 
lished,  and  all  incurred  expenses  had  been  paid 
from  revenues  collected,  and  approximately 
$160,000  was  on  hand  for  carrying  out  certain 
sanitary  work  in  the  city  of  Santiago,  for 
which  arrangements  had  been  made.  The 
Supreme  Court,  courts  of  first  instance,  for 
municipal  courts  had  been  established  through 
out  the  province.  Custom  houses  were  in 
operation,  and  starvation  had  disappeared.  A 
proclamation  embodying  the  general  princi 
ples  of  a  Bill  of  Rights  had  been  published, 
giving  the  people  the  right  to  carry  arms,  to 
hold  public  meetings,  and,  in  fact,  to  do  all 
things  which  people  do  under  free  govern 
ments.  Such  was  the  condition  in  the  province 
of  Santiago  at  the  time  of  the  transfer  of  the 
island  to  the  United  States  on  January  1, 
1899. 

Conditions  were  encountered  in  Havana 
similar  to  those  in  Santiago,  but  not  so  severe, 
as  the  city  had  not  undergone  a  siege  and  had 
not  suffered  from  the  demoralizing  conditions 
necessarily  following.  Still  the  condition  was 
exceedingly  grave  and  an  immense  amount  of 


10  Leonard  Wood 

work  was  required  to  place  affairs  upon  a  com 
paratively  normal  basis.  The  work  of  straight 
ening  out  Havana,  both  in  a  sanitary  and  ad 
ministrative  sense,  was  performed  with  singu 
lar  ability  by  General  William  Ludlow,  since 
deceased.  General  Ludlow's  work  was  of  the 
highest  character,  and  was  carried  out  by  the 
exercise  of  excellent  judgment  and  great  abil 
ity,  and  the  work  which  he  accomplished  re 
sulted  in  a  saving  of  thousands  of  lives  and  in 
the  organization  of  a  suitable  government  in 
Havana  and  the  establishment  of  good  sani 
tary  conditions.  Similar  work,  and  on  a 
smaller  scale,  was  carried  out  by  General  Wil 
son  in  Matanzas,  General  Carpenter  in 
Puerto  Principe,  and  other  officers  in  various 
parts  of  the  island. 


THE  work  outside  of  Havana  called  for 
extensive  care  of  country  people  in  the  way  of 
supplying  food,  medicines,  etc.,  and  was  car 
ried  out  with  remarkable  ability  by  our  officers. 
During  the  year  1899,  under  the  administra 
tion  of  General  Brooke  and  his  subordinates, 
an  organization  of  the  courts  in  the  four  west- 


On  National  Issues  11 

ern  provinces  of  the  island  was  accomplished; 
municipal  governments  were  inaugurated ;  and 
police  forces  provided  for  the  rural  districts. 
A  rudimentary  school  law  had  been  published 
and  preparations  were  under  way  for  the  es 
tablishment  of  a  school  system.  Custom 
houses  had  been  established,  under  the  super 
vision  of  General  Tasker  H.  Bliss,  and 
revenues  were  regularly  collected. 

This  was  the  condition  of  affairs  in  Decem 
ber,  1899,  at  which  time  I  was  appointed  Mili 
tary  Governor  of  the  island.  A  year  and  a 
half  of  experience  in  Cuba  had  shown  that  the 
island  was  in  need  of  a  general  revision  of  the 
law  of  public  works,  beneficence,  education, 
municipal  administration,  prison  administra 
tion,  etc. ;  that  it  needed  an  electoral  law ;  and, 
in  fact,  that  the  whole  machinery  of  the  gov 
ernment  needed  overhauling  and  readjust 
ment.  The  general  law  was  excellent.  I  shall 
always  feel  indebted  to  Justice  White,  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  for  some  very  sensible  advice 
which  he  gave  me  to  the  effect  that  the  law  was 
all  right,  but  to  look  out  for  the  procedure, 
which  needed  many  modifications.  President 
McKinley's  instructions  to  me  were  to  prepare 
Cuba,  as  rapidly  as  possible,  for  the  establish- 


12  Leonard  Wood 

ment  of  an  independent  government,  republi 
can  in  form;  to  arrange  for  an  efficient  ad 
ministration  of  justice;  and  a  good  school  sys 
tem.  Whatever  results  were  obtained  were 
made  possible  by  the  policy  of  the  President 
and  the  Secretary  of  War  in  defining  the  ob 
ject  to  be  attained  and  leaving  their  repre 
sentative  in  the  island  to  work  it  out,  and  he 
was  given  entire  freedom  in  so  doing. 


VI 


THE  government  was  transferred  eventu 
ally  to  the  Cuban  people  exactly  as  promised, 
with  no  debts  but,  of  course,  some  current  lia 
bilities  for  public  works  in  process  of  construc 
tion,  and  with  $1,613,000  free  for  allotment. 
Approximately  97  per  cent,  of  the  officials 
were  Cubans,  and  they  proved  loyal  and  effi 
cient  and  honest.  The  courts  of  justice  were 
entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  people.  The  atti 
tude  of  the  Spanish  element  was  always 
friendly.  They  represent  the  bulk  of  the  busi 
ness  interests  of  the  island.  They  are  people 
of  order,  and  make  excellent  citizens. 

Cuba  has  been  given  an  excellent  start, 
What  she  needs  now  is  the  establishment  of 


On  National  Issues  18 

good  economic  relations  with  the  United 
States;  in  other  words,  a  reasonable  degree 
of  reciprocity.  Her  purchases  have  been  in 
the  neighborhood  of  $68,000,000  per  year,  and 
with  confidence  and  stimulation  to  business 
which  will  come  with  reciprocity,  we  shall  have 
— if  we  have  the  good  sense  to  take  steps  to 
establish  reciprocal  relations  which  will  in  ad 
dition  give  Cuba  herself  a  chance  to  live  and 
carry  out  the  obligations  we  have  put  upon  her 
— in  all  probability,  in  from  five  to  eight  years, 
$150,000,000  to  $200,000,000  per  year  of 
trade. 

The  powers  of  the  Military  Governor  were 
absolute  in  every  particular,  and  yet  there  was 
but  one  instance  of  a  reversal  of  the  action  of 
the  native  court;  this  exception  being  for  rea 
sons  which  were  published  in  full  in  the  Official 
Gazette  in  Havana,  and  which  met  with  gen 
eral  approval.  The  basis  of  the  action  taken 
by  the  Military  Governor  in  this  case  has  since 
been  adopted  as  a  basis  to  govern  in  similar 
cases.  The  courts  have  been  untrammeled  in 
the  exercise  of  their  authority,  and  the  munici 
palities  have  been  governed  by  officials  elected 
by  the  people  at  the  polls. 


14  Leonard  Wood 

VII 

THE  government  was  transferred  as  a  go 
ing  concern.  All  the  public  offices  were  filled 
with  competent,  well  trained  employees;  the 
island  was  free  from  debt  and  had  a  surplus 
of  a  million  and  a  half  dollars  in  the  treasury ; 
was  possessed  of  a  thoroughly  trained  and 
efficient  personnel  in  all  departments;  com 
pletely  equipped  buildings  for  the  transaction 
of  public  business;  the  administration  of  jus 
tice  was  free;  habeas  corpus  had  been  put  in 
force;  police  courts  had  been  established;  a 
new  marriage  law  on  lines  proposed  by  the 
Roman  Catholic  Bishop  of  Havana,  giving 
equal  rights  to  all  denominations,  was  in  opera 
tion;  the  people  were  governed,  in  all  munici 
palities,  by  officials  of  their  own  choice  elected 
at  the  polls;  trials  in  Cuban  courts  were  as 
prompt  as  in  any  State  of  the  Union,  and  life 
and  property  were  absolutely  safe;  sanitary 
conditions  were  better  than  those  existing  in 
most  parts  of  the  United  States ;  yellow  fever 
had  been  eradicated  from  the  island;  modern 
systems  of  public  education,  including  a  uni 
versity,  high  school  and  nearly  three  thousand 
seven  hundred  public  schools,  had  been  estab- 


On  National  Issues  15 

lished;  also  well  organized  departments  of 
charity  and  public  works.  The  island  was 
well  supplied  with  hospitals  and  asylums,  beg 
gars  were  almost  unknown.  A  new  railway 
law  had  been  promulgated ;  custom  houses  had 
been  equipped  and  thoroughly  established ;  the 
great  question  of  church  property  had  been 
settled;  a  basis  of  agreement  between  mort 
gaged  creditors  and  debtors  had  been  estab 
lished;  municipalities  had  been  reduced  from 
138  to  82  in  number;  public  order  was  excel 
lent;  the  island  possessed  a  highly  organized 
and  efficient  rural  guard ;  an  enormous  amount 
of  public  works  had  been  undertaken  and  com 
pleted  ;  harbors  and  channels  were  buoyed ;  old 
lighthouses  had  been  thoroughly  renovated 
and  new  ones  built;  in  short,  the  government 
as  transferred  was  in  excellent  running  order. 
The  great  expense  of  organization  and  equip 
ment  was  borne  by  the  Military  Government. 
At  the  time  of  the  transfer,  government  build 
ings  and  equipment  of  every  description  were 
in  such  condition  as  to  be  able  to  render  useful 
services  for  years  at  a  small  outlay  compared 
to  the  cost  incurred  by  the  Military  Govern 
ment  in  renovating,  building  and  purchasing 
the  same.  The  insular  government  was  under- 


16  Leonard  Wood 

taken  without  a  dollar  of  public  money  on 
hand,  except  the  daily  collections  of  customs 
and  internal  revenue,  and  involved  the  collec 
tion  and  disbursement  of  $57,107,140.80,  dur 
ing  its  existence,  for  improvements  in  material 
conditions  and  the  upbuilding  of  insular  insti 
tutions.  This  sum  does  not  include  the  munici 
pal  revenues,  only  the  general  insular 
revenues. 


VIII 


THE  work  called  for  and  accomplished  was 
the  building  up  of  a  REPUBLIC,  in  a  coun 
try  where  approximately  70  per  cent,  of  the 
people  were  illiterate;  where  they  had  lived 
always  as  a  military  colony;  where  general 
elections,  as  we  understand  them,  were  un 
known;  in  fact,  it  was  a  work  which  called  for 
practically  a  rewriting  of  the  administrative 
law  of  the  land ;  including  the  law  of  charities 
and  hospitals,  public  works,  sanitary  law, 
school  law,  railway  law,  etc. ;  meeting  and  con 
trolling  the  worst  possible  sanitary  conditions ; 
putting  the  people  to  school;  writing  an  elec 
toral  law  and  training  the  people  in  the  use 
of  it;  establishing  an  entirely  new  system  of 


On  National  Issues  17 

accounting  and  auditing;  the  election  and 
assembling  of  representatives  of  the  people  to 
draw  up  and  adopt  a  constitution  for  the  pro 
posed  new  republic;  in  short,  the  establish 
ment,  in  a  little  over  three  years,  in  a  Latin 
military  colony,  in  one  of  the  most  unhealthy 
countries  of  the  world,  of  a  republic  modeled 
closely  upon  the  lines  of  our  own  great  Anglo- 
Saxon  republic;  and  the  transfer  to  the  Cuban 
people  of  the  republic  so  established,  free  from 
debt,  healthy,  orderly,  well  equipped,  and  with 
a  good  balance  in  the  treasury.  All  of  this 
work  was  accomplished  without  serious  fric 
tion.  The  island  of  Cuba  was  transferred  to 
its  people  as  promised,  and  was  started  on  its 
career  in  good  condition  and  under  the  most 
favorable  circumstances. 

The  government  of  Cuba  while  called  "mili 
tary"  was  so  in  name  only.  The  courts  exer 
cised  full  and  untrammeled  jurisdiction  from 
first  to  last.  Means  of  appeal  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Cuba  from  the  decisions  of  the  Mili 
tary  Governor  were  provided,  in  all  cases  ex 
cept  for  appeals  against  such  acts  of  the  Mili 
tary  Government  as  were  of  a  legislative  char 
acter,  such  as  the  promulgation  of  laws,  etc. 
Xearly  all  public  offices  were  filled  by 


18  Leonard  Wood 

Cubans,  and  the  government,  as  conducted, 
was  as  nearly  a  government  by  the  people  as 
was  possible  under  conditions  existing. 


CAPITAL,  LABOR  AND  THE  GOLDEN  RULE 


WE  have  emerged  successfully  from  the 
Great  War.  We  are  now  confronted  with  the 
problems  of  peace,  problems  of  readjustment 
which  follow  the  war.  They  are  many  and 
their  solution  is  vital  to  our  progress  and 
stability. 

It  is  no  time  now  for  rash  experiments  or 
untried  ideas.  We  must  hold  on  to  the  policies 
and  methods  of  established  worth  which  ex 
perience  has  shown  to  be  sound.  We  must 
progress,  but  we  must  know  where  we  are 
going. 

We  must  do  all  we  can  to  encourage  good 
business,  whether  it  be  big  business  or  small 
business.  If  it  is  good  business  and  beneficial 
to  the  public,  it  is  worthy  of  encouragement; 
if  it  is  bad  business,  we  must  control  it  arid 
regulate  it.  Good  business  means  prosperous 
labor,  and  this  means  increased  production  and 
nothing  must  be  allowed  to  interfere  with 

19 


20  Leonard  Wood 

ample  production.  It  is  the  real  remedy  for 
the  high  cost  of  living.  Limitation  on  produc 
tion  is  an  invitation  to  disaster — disaster  which 
strikes  first  the  poor  but  eventually  affects  all. 
We  cannot  consider  business  and  labor  sepa 
rately.  They  are  inter-locking  and  inter-de 
pendent.  We  must  spread  the  war  burden 
over  a  much  longer  period  of  years  than  at 
present  contemplated.  The  present  excess  in 
come  tax  is  paralyzing  initiative.  It  is  a 
strangle  hold  upon  the  throat  of  business 
which  must  be  relaxed  if  American  business  is 
to  have  that  initiative  which  will  be  necessary 
to  give  us  our  share  in  the  world's  trade.  We 
must  do  everything  we  can  to  help  on  good 
business,  for  on  it  depends  national  prosperity. 
Labor  and  Capital  in  this  country  must  work 
together  in  order  to  meet  the  problems  which 
are  going  to  follow  this  world's  war.  We  do 
not  wish  an  autocracy  of  either  Capital  or 
Labor,  but  a  real  democracy  in  both,  char 
acterized  by  a  spirit  of  co-operation  and  help 
fulness.  We  must  inject  more  of  the  human 
element  into  our  relations  with  those  about  us, 
whether  they  be  our  associates  or  our  subordi 
nates — more  gathering  about  the  table  and 
discussing  matters  fully  and  frankly.  We 


On  National  Issues  21 

must  recognize  that  the  workingman  is  neither  j 
a  machine  nor  a  commodity,  but  that  he  is  a' 
collaborator  with  capital.  Individual  capacity 
and  ambition  must  receive  encouragement  and 
recognition.  The  employer  must  recognize 
the  dignity  and  status  of  the  worker  and  give 
him  every  consideration  due.  The  closest  pos 
sible  contact  and  the  fullest  understanding 
should  be  maintained  between  employer  and 
employee.  Arrangements  for  the  adjustment 
of  grievances  must  be  provided  which  will 
work  smoothly  and  promptly.  We  must  do 
all  we  can  to  improve  the  worker's  living  con 
ditions,  to  make  his  surroundings  decent  and 
attractive  to  himself  and  family.  His  hours  of 
work  must  be  such  as  to  give  him  an  oppor 
tunity  for  reasonable  recreation  with  his 
family  during  the  hours  of  daylight.  He 
should  receive  a  wage  that  not  only  permits 
him  to  keep  body  and  soul  together,  but  en 
ables  him  to  lay  by  something  for  the  future. 
If  these  conditions  are  to  be  obtained  and 
maintained,  labor  must  recognize  that  high 
wages  can  only  be  maintained  under  conditions 
of  high  production  and  high  efficiency.  Capi 
tal  must  be  paid  in  accordance  with  the  risk  of 
the  enterprise.  Those  who  direct  and  plan 


22  Leonard  Wood 

must  be  paid  adequately,  labor  must  be  ade 
quately  paid,  and  after  this,  if  anything  re 
mains,  comes  the  question  of  an  equitable  dis 
tribution.  Many  of  the  more  progressive,  in 
telligent  and  far-seeing  men  are  already  be 
ginning  to  give  to  labor  a  participation  in  this 
surplus — a  share  varying  with  its  amount. 


ii 


THE  main  thing  is  for  Labor  and  Capital 
to  pull  together  in  the  present  great  crisis,  re 
membering  that  only  through  co-operation  and 
frank  and  full  understanding  and  mutual  con 
cessions  can  the  wheels  of  industry  be  kept 
going. 

You  cannot  legislate  the  Golden  Rule  into 
the  hearts  of  men.  Most  of  the  difficulties  be 
tween  capital  and  labor  are  due  to  a  failure  to 
apply  those  basic  principles.  Theodore  Roose 
velt's  great  strength  in  this  country  was  not 
due  to  the  fact  that  he  evolved  so  many  new 
ideas.  There  are  not  many  new  ideas  pro 
duced,  there  is  not  much  that  is  new.  But,  he 
was  constantly  presenting  to  the  American 
people  old  fundamental  truths,  sometimes  in 
one  garb  and  sometimes  in  another,  but  always 


On  National  Issues  23 

in  impressive  array.  There  is  nothing  new  in 
the  Ten  Commandments.  There  is  nothing 
new  in  the  Lord's  Prayer.  Yet,  we  say  them 
over  day  after  day,  and  year  after  year,  and 
they  lie  at  the  very  foundation  of  our  religious 
and  moral  life;  and  they  embody  the  basic 
principles  for  our  personal  conduct  and  our 
relations  with  other  peoples.  They  are  very 
simple  and  so  are  the  basic  principles  which 
govern  the  relations  between  labor  and  capital. 
We  must  introduce  into  those  relations  more 
of  the  human  element,  more  of  that  element  of 
sympathy  and  association,  more  of  the  Golden 
Rule. 

Labor  is  older  than  capital;  capital  comes 
from  labor;  nevertheless,  they  are  one  and  in 
separable.  United  they  stand,  separated  they  1 
fall.  If  a  man  is  going  to  handle  labor  suc 
cessfully,  it  is  not  enough  to  give  fair  hours  of 
work  and  fair  wage — we  must  not  only  let 
live  but  help  live. 


ill 


WE  must  impress  upon  all,  both  labor  and 
capital,  the  words  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  for 
they  embody  a  sound  doctrine  which  must 


24  Leonard  Wood 

govern:  "Let  not  him  who  is  houseless  pull 
down  the  house  of  his  neighbor;  but,  rather, 
let  him  strive  diligently  to  build  one  for  him 
self,  thus,  by  example,  showing  confidence  that 
his  own  when  built  shall  stand." 

We  could  not  handle  an  army  unless  we  had 
the  human  element  and  employed  it  very 
largely  in  dealing  with  our  men.  If  we  did 
not  see  the  men  every  day,  how  they  are 
housed,  how  they  are  fed,  how  they  are  clothed, 
how  they  are  protected  from  the  weather  and 
looked  after  generally,  they  would  soon  lose 
interest  in  us  and  we  would  not  have  their  loyal 
support.  I  think  we  have  got  to  have  a  great 
deal  more  of  that  spirit  with  reference  to  labor. 
I  think  we  must  see  how  the  women  and  chil 
dren  of  those  working  for  us  are  living.  We 
must  come  more  in  contact  with  them.  We 
cannot  handle  the  matter  in  a  purely  academic 
way. 

One  of  Theodore  Roosevelt's  greatest  holds 
upon  the  American  people  was  in  his  use  of 
the  human  element ;  he  always  brought  it  into 
play.  If  he  was  in  camp,  no  matter  how  rough 
and  simple,  he  always  had  a  good  word  to  say 
about  something.  If  the  cook  turned  out  a 
good  breakfast  he  had  a  good  word  for  him; 


On  National  Issues  25 

if  he  did  not  have  a  good  breakfast  he  had  a 
good  word  for  him  about  something  else.  If 
the  engineer  of  his  train  made  a  good  run,  he 
was  never  too  busy  to  say,  "Well,  old  man, 
you  gave  me  a  good  run  this  morning  and  it 
was  very  important,  too,  that  I  be  here."  Just 
try  a  little  of  that  with  labor  and  see  how  it 
works. 


IV 


I  HAVE  had  some  labor  groups  to  meet 
lately,  and  I  have  found  about  95  per  cent, 
of  American  labor  is  square  and  straight. 
Where  they  have  had  troubles,  nine  times  out 
of  ten  it  has  been  due  to  alien  leadership  of  the 
type  I  have  been  urging  that  we  get  rid  of  in 
this  country.  Give  them  a  square  deal,  put 
the  thing  up  to  them  fairly,  and  you  will  be 
surprised  to  see  how  quickly  they  respond. 
Of  course,  you  find  men  who  do  not  respond 
to  a  square  deal,  but  their  numbers  are  small. 
I  generally  go  on  the  assumption  that  every 
man  in  the  organization  intends  to  do  his  duty 
and  I  find  that  in  about  98  per  cent,  of  the 
cases  I  am  right.  You  find  obstinate  and 
queer  characters,  you  find  many  amusing  inci- 


26  Leonard  Wood 

dents,  but  that  is  to  be  expected,  and  there  is 
no  use  of  becoming  irritated.  But  if  you  as 
sume  that  about  98  per  cent,  of  all  the  people 
you  have  to  deal  with — be  it  in  the  army  or  in 
the  navy  or  in  your  dealings  with  labor — are 
square,  you  will  be  surprised  to  find  how  true 
that  assumption  is. 


AMERICAN   WOMEN — TO-DAY   AND    To- 
MOEKOW 


r 


THERE  is  a  field  into  which  the  women 
are  coming  and  it  is  the  big  field.  It  is  the  field 
of  national  politics.  Personally,  having  seen 
what  the  women  did  during  the  war,  both  at 
home  and  abroad,  I  feel  very  confident  that  the 
entrance  of  American  women  into  the  field  of 
American  politics  is  going  to  have  a  very  help 
ful  and  good  effect.  I  think  they  are  going  to 
bring  a  healthy  influence.  One  which  will 
make  our  politics  cleaner  and  introduce  a  bet 
ter  spirit  into  the  political  field. 

I  think  women  are  going  to  do  another 
thing;  I  believe  they  are  going  to  make  the 
men  go  to  the  polls,  and  if  they  do  that  they 
will  have  done  a  good  and  helpful  piece  of 
work.  There  is  too  much  indifference  among 
people  like  ourselves.  The  danger  within  our 
gates  today  is  not  so  much  the  alien  element, 
although  that  is  rather  prominent  at  the  mo- 

27 


28  Leonard  Wood 

ment,  as  it  is  our  own  indifference.  We  want 
all  our  people  interested  in  their  civic  duties— 
both  men  and  women.  You  cannot  have  a 
successful  representative  government  unless 
all  classes  of  people  discharge  their  citizenship 
duties  loyally  and  well. 

You  women  have  been  dreaming  for  many 
years  of  bringing  about  certain  results;  you 
have  dreamed  of  establishing  better  conditions 
of  public  and  private  morality ;  you  have  been 
thinking  of  and  hoping  to  establish  better 
housing  conditions  for  the  poor,  of  doing  away 
with  child  labor;  hoping  to  establish  better 
conditions  as  to  the  training  of  children,  and  to 
bring  about  various  regulations  which  will  do 
away  with  vice  and  diseases  which  are  a  menace 
to  our  civilization.  All  those  things  are  going 
to  be  possible  for  you  if  you  come  into  the 
party  organizations,  whichever  one  you  decide 
to  join.  Do  not  go  into  politics  in  little  groups 
of  women.  Go  in  on  a  footing  of  absolute 
equality  with  men,  and  in  equal  or  even  greater 
numbers  and  play  the  game  straight  through, 
remembering  that  you  can  only  accomplish  re 
sults  through  organization. 


On  National  Issues  29 

ii 

WE  have  reason  to  be  proud  of  the  work  of 
American  women  during  the  war.  I  do  not 
know  of  any  part  of  the  country  where  Ameri 
can  women  did  not  take  hold  of  the  situation 
with  keen  energy.  I  know  from  personal  ex 
perience  in  the  Middle  West  and  neighboring 
states  the  women  did  everything  humanly  pos 
sible  to  send  our  men  overseas  sound  in  body 
and  clean  in  soul.  They  looked  after  the  men 
in  the  towns  near  the  camps ;  they  maintained 
excellent  conditions  of  public  morality;  they 
looked  after  the  men  when  they  were  en  route 
to  the  sea;  they  were  at  the  ports  of  embarka 
tion  to  give  the  last  help  they  could  give,  and 
when  the  men  arrived  on  the  other  side  they 
found  American  women  scattered  at  various 
points  of  activity  from  the  ports  of  debarka 
tion  up  to  the  fighting  line.  We  found  the 
women  of  the  Red  Cross,  the  women  of  the 
Salvation  Army,  and  others,  actually  in  the 
battle  area  doing  their  work.  In  fact,  the 
work  of  women  in  all  kinds  of  war  activities 
was  wonderful. 

Some  one  wrote  me  and  asked  what  I 
thought  about  the  work  of  women  in  the  war. 


30  Leonard  Wood 

I  answered  very  briefly  and  said  that  without 
the  work  of  women  during  the  war  we  could 
not  have  taken  our  part  in  it  as  we  did.  I  do 
not  think  there  was  any  class  of  our  popula 
tion  more  earnest  than  American  women  in 
carrying  on  the  war  to  an  effective  and  vic 
torious  end. 


Ill 


MANY  States  in  the  United  States  already 
have  Woman  Suffrage  and  women  have  been 
given  a  proper  participation  in  municipal  and 
political  affairs.  Many  women  have  already 
been  appointed  to  office.  The  work  that  they 
can  do  on  the  police  force  in  dealing  with 
women  and  the  work  which  they  can  do  as 
officers  in  many  branches  of  municipal  gov 
ernment  is  clearly  evident  to  everybody.  The 
part  that  women  played  in  the  Great  War  as 
nurses,  canteen  workers,  and  in  selling  Liberty 
Bonds,  is  also  well  known  to  all.  The  moral 
force  that  women  will  exert  in  performing 
their  municipal  and  national  duties  will  be  very 
considerable.  Indeed  every  woman  did  some 
kind  of  war  work  and  their  efficiency  has  been 
very  well  proved. 


On  National  Issues  31 

School  affairs  ought  certainly  to  have  the 
voice  of  the  woman  heard  in  them  because  she 
is  so  closely  connected  with  the  education  of 
her  children.  The  problems  of  child  labor  are 
also  being  very  successfully  attacked  by  wo 
men  welfare  workers.  The  conditions  of  vice 
are  being  diminished  owing  to  their  efforts. 
They  will  undoubtedly  wield  a  greater  in 
fluence  on  the  affairs  of  the  nation  with  the 
passing  of  time  and  as  their  efforts  in  the  new 
field  of  suffrage  become  more  evident. 

IV 

THE  great  bulk  of  women  workers  in  the 
shops,  in  the  mills  and  the  factories,  as  well  as 
the  offices,  and  the  training  that  they  have  re 
ceived  will  stand  them  in  good  stead  as  their 
opportunities  to  gain  suffrage  approach. 
During  any  period  of  disturbance,  strikes, 
war,  revolution,  the  women  suffer  most.  It 
was  so  in  the  beginning,  it  was  so  during  all 
the  days  of  history;  and  it  is  so  today.  The 
wailings  of  the  women  of  captured  cities  have 
been  echoed  and  re-echoed  down  the  pages  of 
history  from  time  immemorable.  The  cries  of 
the  women  of  Russia  today  are  being  heard 
around  the  world. 


32  Leonard  Wood 

The  home  is  the  cornerstone  of  our  modern 
civilization.  Woman  is  the  center  of  the  home. 
From  the  home  emanate  the  teachings  and 
morals  and  religion  and  the  things  we  hold 
most  dear.  Anything  that  tends  to  destroy 
the  home  or  diminish  its  influence  is  the  great 
est  menace  to  the  fundamentals  of  our  civiliza 
tion.  All  wars  and  revolutions  threaten  the 
security  and  the  influence  of  the  home  and  the 
protection  of  women.  Consequently  any 
movement  that  advocates  any  kind  of  violence 
or  disorder  should  be  combated  by  all  the 
women  of  the  land  with  all  the  weapons  in 
their  power. 


WAR  AND  PEACE 


THERE  is  nothing  new  in  the  movement 
for  peace.  It  is  centuries  old.  Men  have 
dreamed  of  it  since  they  had  things  of  value 
to  hold.  Women  have  prayed  for  it  through 
ages.  Good  people  have  looked  forward  to 
the  day  of  peace  and  tranquillity  since  the  be 
ginning  of  written  history,  and  doubtless  long 
before.  Just  as  they  have  desired  to  avoid 
great  misfortunes,  plagues,  earthquakes,  fire, 
or  famine,  so  they  have  struggled  to  escape 
war,  except  in  those  instances  where  war  was 
the  lesser  of  two  evils.  Yet  war  is  with  us  to 
day,  was  with  us  yesterday,  and  so  through  all 
the  years  since  history  records  man's  action  or 
tradition  tells  of  his  deeds. 

Today,  initiated  as  a  rule  with  more  formal 
ity,  conducted  with  greater  regard  for  the  lives 
of  the  noncombatants,  and  characterized  by  a 
larger  measure  of  observance  of  the  dictates 
of  humanity  in  the  treatment  of  prisoners  and 

33 


34  Leonard  Wood 

the  helpless,  war  is  still  with  us.  Peace  leagues 
struggle  to  prevent  it ;  great  alliances  attempt 
to   abate   it   through    preponderant   forces- 
through  war  itself,  if  need  be. 


1! 


ARBITRATION  serves  to  lessen  it  a  little 
through  disposing  of  many  minor  questions 
which,  if  allowed  to  grow,  might  bring  about 
disputes  resulting  in  war.  As  one  of  the 
means  of  possible  avoidance  of  a  resort  to 
force,  we  welcome  arbitration  with  open  arms 
and  strive  to  give  it  the  largest  measure  of 
success,  although  realizing  that  in  many  cases 
it  will  not  avail  to  prevent  that  final  resort  to 
force  which  can  only  be  avoided  when  all  great 
Powers  think  alike.  That  time  will  come  only 
when  absolutely  unselfish  justice  marks  inter 
national  relations;  when  trade  is  equitably 
shared  among  competing  peoples;  when  com 
petition,  greed,  selfishness,  race  interests  and 
prejudices  and  religious  intolerance  pass 
away;  when  men  and  nations  have  no  fixed 
convictions  which  differ  from  those  of  others; 
when  they  neither  dream  dreams  nor  see 
visions.  Until  then,  strive  as  we  may,  the  cry 


On  National  Issues  35 

will  be  "Peace!  Peace!"  and  yet  there  will  be 
no  permanent  peace.  Nevertheless,  we  must 
strive  unceasingly  to  reduce  war  to  the  mini 
mum,  and  to  build  up  arbitration,  but  in  so 
doing  we  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that 
our  efforts  will  not  always  be  successful. 


in 


AN  infinite  wisdom  has  established  the  con 
ditions  under  which  we  live  and  put  in  being 
the  great  law  which  runs  through  the  universe : 
The  law  of  the  survival  of  the  most  fit.  We 
may  struggle  against  it,  but  it  rules  in  its  gen 
eral  application.  The  most  fit  in  a  military 
way,  which  includes  good  bodies,  based  on 
good  food,  careful  sanitation,  well  thought- 
out  training,  clear  intelligence  resting  on  good 
schools  and  early  training,  good  armament, 
equipment  and  organization,  all  springing 
from  intelligence  and  education  applied  to 
self -protection  and  expansion  of  interests  and 
trade,  will  win  in  war  just  as  they  win  in  com 
merce. 

They  may  not  be  the  most  fit  in  abstract 
morality  as  relates  to  business  relations  be 
tween  individuals  or  nations,  or  with  regard  to 


86  Leonard  Wood 

generosity  or  sense  of  justice.  The  character 
istics  of  selfishness,  self-interest  and  the  spirit 
of  acquisitiveness  are  often  accompanied  by  a 
development  of  the  means  to  get  what  is 
coveted  and  to  hold  it  securely.  Human 
nature  in  the  mass  is  still  human  nature ;  under 
a  little  more  restraint,  perhaps,  but  still  the  old 
complex  proposition  of  the  ages,  characterized 
and  controlled  only  too  often  by  expediency 
and  self-interest. 

IV 

NATIONS  are  but  collections  of  indi 
viduals  ;  we  need  courts  for  the  individual  man, 
and  courts  are  of  no  avail  without  the  police. 
In  the  vast  group  of  individuals  constituting  a 
community,  city  or  nation,  the  resort  to  force 
by  small  groups  representing  perhaps  a 
thousandth,  or  less,  of  the  population,  is  a 
nuisance  and  is  not  permitted  by  the  great 
aggregation  of  the  individuals  among  whom 
they  live,  as  it  interferes  with  the  interest  and 
activities,  often  safety,  of  too  many  other 
people.  The  individuals  in  the  community  of 
nations  are  few  in  number,  and  it  is  much  less 
easy  to  bring  preponderant  force  to  the  con 
trol  or  restraint  of  the  more  powerful. 


On  National  Issues  37 

Yet  as  men  struggle  within  the  community 
and  too  often  resort  to  force  unless  restrained, 
so  do  nations  struggle  and  resort  to  force  in 
the  world  community,  only  here  counter  force 
in  the  form  of  international  police  has  never 
been  resorted  to.  Can  it  be  effectively  done 
while  there  still  exist  strong  groups  character 
ized  by  century-old  prejudices  of  race  and  in 
terest?  This  is  one  of  the  great  questions  of 
the  hour.  While  considering  it  we  should  not 
neglect  preparation  for  defense  or  fail  to 
recognize  conditions  as  they  are. 


THE  maintenance  of  peace  and  the  preven 
tion  of  war  have  been  attempted  through  al 
liances  to  compel  or  regulate  the  action  of 
other  groups  or  other  combinations  of  nations, 
by  efforts  so  to  group  nations  as  to  maintain 
the  balance  of  power  between  people  whose 
territorial  expansion  and  increase  of  popula 
tion  and  interests  might  otherwise  jeopardize 
peace.  These  efforts  have  usually  resulted  in 
war  sooner  or  later,  although  in  many  in 
stances  serving  to  maintain  peace  for  long 
periods.  The  policy  of  no  combination  satis- 


38  Leonard  Wood 

fies  the  greed,  ambition  or  policy  of  all  its 
members,  and  eventually  the  dominating  in 
terest  of  one  or  more  members  of  such  a  com 
bination,  or  the  injection  of  new  interests  or 
conditions,  serves  after  a  time  to  bring  about 
the  loosening  of  the  bonds  of  the  alliance  and 
the  formation  of  new  combinations,  too  often 
with  a  resort  to  force  as  the  final  argument. 
Thus  far  we  see  little  prospect  of  change. 
We  may  hold  down  for  a  time  the  explosive 
pressure  or  give  it  a  safe  vent,  but  from  time 
to  time  human  effort  will  fail  and  the  ex 
plosion  will  occur.  In  other  words,  the  con 
trolling  nations  are  too  few  in  number  and 
their  vital  interests  are  so  coincident  or  inter 
woven  with  those  of  the  controlled  nations  that 
constant  changes  and  rearrangements  result  in 
this  grouping,  and  these  changes  inevitably 
bring  about  an  appeal  to  force.  It  is  difficult 
to  see  how  this  condition  can  be  changed  so 
long  as  national  lines  exist  and  racial  groups 
continue,  or  certain  trade  areas  remain  under 
the  control  of  these  groups. 


On  National  Issues  39 

YI 

JUSTICE  and  righteousness  are  not 
enough  to  insure  protection,  nor  is  an  upright 
and  blameless  personal  or  national  life  a  guar 
antee  against  the  unscrupulous.  A  Pilate  was 
found  to  crucify  Christ ;  and  a  strong,  aggres 
sive  nation,  believing  in  its  own  worth  and 
right  to  expand,  has  always  been  prone  to 
crush  and  coerce  a  weaker  one,  regardless  of 
the  abstract  justice  of  the  weaker  nation's 
cause. 

Why  all  these  things  are,  is  a  question  which 
this  world  cannot  answer  in  precise  terms,  and 
with  such  answer  we  are  not  at  this  moment 
concerned. 

We  can  with  justice  say  that  public  and 
national  morality  is  largely  the  reflection  of 
the  education  of  our  youth.  Sound  moral 
training  in  the  home,  a  healthy  body  and 
a  developed  sense  of  justice  and  fair  play, 
probably  make  the  sound,  just  and  normal 
man  in  public  life,  the  best  citizen,  and,  collec 
tively,  when  assembled  in  legislative  bodies  or 
engaged  in  executive  or  administrative  work, 
the  man  will  act  on  the  most  just,  reasonable 
and  tolerant  lines.  But  even  among  men  of 


40  Leonard  Wood 

this  class  there  will  be  strong  differences  of 
opinion  and  it  is  little  short  of  folly  to  assume 
the  contrary.  We  may  diminish  the  frequency 
of  strife  and  make  more  humane  the  struggle, 
but  for  the  present  nothing  more. 


VII 


BLOOD,  race,  tradition,  trade  and  a  host 
of  other  influences,  capped  by  ambition  to  go 
on,  to  lead,  to  expand,  will  always  produce 
strife.  We  cannot  escape  this  conclusion  if 
we  take  as  our  guide  the  evidence  of  tilings 
done  and  being  done,  rather  than  follow  the 
dictates  of  fancy  or  desire.  The  struggle  for 
peace  is  centuries  old,  and  efforts  to  end  war 
and  establish  undisturbed  peace  have  filled  the 
minds  of  men  and  taxed  the  resources  of 
nations.  The  great  combinations  of  power  to 
prevent  war  were,  after  all,  the  combinations 
of  forces  to  restrain  the  exercise  of  force,  and 
have  more  often  than  not  ended  in  a  great 
struggle  for  readjustment  of  the  balance  of 
power. 

The  theories  and  policies  of  addled  minds 
and  shallow  intelligences,  products  of  the  ap 
plause  of  the  lecture  platform,  or  of  minds 


On  National  Issues  41 

upset  by  the  flattery  incident  to  sudden  wealth, 
have  had  their  share  of  attention,  and  even  of 
sympathy.  After  all,  they  indicate  only  a  fail 
ure  to  understand  that  war  generally  has  its 
roots  running  deep  below  the  surface  that  is 
swept  by  the  gaze  of  such  observers.  The 
authors  of  these  theories  never  have  studied 
seriously  the  causes  of  war.  They  assign  as 
causes  the  little  incidents  which  serve  to  touch 
off  the  mass  of  explosive  which  other  forces 
have  been  accumulating  and  piling  up  for  a 
generation  or  perhaps  a  century. 

VIII 

WAR,  whether  it  be  for  evil  or  good,  is 
among  men,  and  our  clear  duty  is  to  recognize 
this  fact,  instead  of  denying  the  evidence  of 
our  senses  simply  because  it  is  disagreeable 
and  brutal,  something  that  we  would  get  rid 
of.  Our  duty  is  to  protect  ourselves  as  best  we 
can  against  war  and  build  our  protection  on  so 
secure  a  foundation  and  maintain  its  efficiency 
so  systematically  that  our  own  institutions, 
ideals  and  interests  may  be  secure  and  that  we 
may  be  able  to  hand  down  to  our  children  all 
the  benefits  we  have  received  from  our  fathers. 
God  has  given  us  eyes  to  see,  ears  to  hear,  and 


42  Leonard  Wood 

intelligence  and  memory  to  glean  and  carry 
from  the  lessons  of  the  past  something  of  wis 
dom  to  guide  us  in  meeting  the  issues  of  the 
present.  If  we  fail  to  make  the  best  use  of 
those  faculties  which  have  been  given  us,  we 
must  pay  the  penalty. 


IX 


WE  must  continue  to  strive  for  world 
peace,  for  the  betterment  of  human  conditions ; 
we  must  do  what  we  can  to  promote  arbitra 
tion,  love  of  justice;  but  we  have  no  right  to 
forget  that  none  of  these  will  serve  to  protect 
us  against  an  unjust  aggressor.  Let  us  do  all 
these  good  things,  but  at  the  same  time  take 
those  measures  of  wise  precaution  which  the 
experience  of  time  and  of  all  people  teaches, 
that  we  may  be  prepared  to  defend  with  force 
those  things  which  justice,  honesty  and  fail- 
dealings  are  inadequate  of  themselves  to  de 
fend?  As  Cromwell  said:  "Trust  in  God- 
but  keep  your  powder  dry."  In  other  words, 
do  right,  but  do  not  trust  to  that  alone.  The 
highwayman  is  not  especially  concerned  with 
the  morals  of  the  man  whose  purse  he  covets, 
nor  is  the  great  nation  struggling  for  trade 


On  National  Issues  43 

and  expansion  disposed  to  give  especial  con 
sideration  to  the  morals  of  the  people  stand 
ing  in  her  way.  Every  nation  does,  however, 
give  serious  and  prompt  heed  to  the  strength 
and  ability  of  another  to  hold  and  protect 
what  she  has. 


THE  LEAGUE  or  NATIONS 


I  BELIEVE  we  should  adopt  the  League 
of  Nations  with  reservations  which  thor 
oughly  Americanize  it  and  leave  America 
absolutely  untrammeled  to  follow  the  dictates 
of  the  American  people,  expressed  through  the 
agencies  provided  by  the  Constitution. 

Whatever  comes  out  of  this  discussion  of  the 
League  of  Nations,  there  is  one  thing  we 
should  try  to  preserve,  and  that  is  the  ma 
chinery  whereby  the  representatives  of  the 
different  nations  can  get  together  around  a 
table  to  talk  things  over  before  a  resort  to 
force.  You  do  not  fight  with  any  less  deter 
mination  if  you  give  the  other  fellow  a  chance 
to  talk,  and  we  do  need  something  through 
which  we  can  get  together  and  talk  things  over. 

In  urging  the  building  up  of  a  strong  na 
tional  spirit,  I  do  not  mean  that  we  are  to  be 
lacking  in  international  charity  or  in  the  spirit 

45 


46  Leonard  Wood 

of  international  helpfulness,  but  if  we  have  a 
strong  and  vigorous  national  spirit,  we  shall 
be  a  real  power  for  good.  We  want  a  spirit 
which  will  stand  for  international  fair  dealing 
and  a  willingness  to  help  in  world  crises,  such 
as  that  through  which  we  are  now  going.  In 
other  words,  "we  want  to  speak  softly,  but 
carry  a  big  stick,"  that  is  to  say,  be  just  and 
fair  but  also  be  strong  and  ready  to  support 
the  right,  not  only  with  words  but  with  force 
if  necessary. 

n 

IF  WE  are  to  be  a  great  force  for  main 
taining  the  peace  of  the  world,  a  great  in 
fluence  for  good,  we  must  have  not  only 
honesty  and  integrity  of  purpose,  but  we  must 
have  organized  and  at  our  hands  the  forces  of 
right.  We  can  be  strong  without  becoming 
aggressors.  We  can  have  weapons  without 
turning  them  against  our  brothers.  We  can 
organize  against  the  forces  of  wrong  doing 
without  becoming  an  enemy  of  the  right.  It 
is  not  enough  to  mean  well,  to  desire  that  the 
right  shall  prevail,  but  we  must  have  the  or 
ganization  and  preparedness  to  serve  our 
ideals. 


On  National  Issues  47 

m 

I  BELIEVE  that  we  should  accept  the 
League  of  Nations  as  modified  and  safe 
guarded  by  the  existing  Lodge  reservations- 
reservations  that  Americanize  it  and  safeguard 
our  traditional  policies,  reservations  which 
leave  America  absolutely  free  and  untram- 
meled  to  follow  the  will  of  her  own  people  in 
all  questions  of  foreign  and  domestic  policy. 
I,  of  course,  at  all  times  favor  getting  the 
views  of  the  people  of  the  country  where  it  is 
practicable.  However,  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
the  people  have  clearly  indicated — as  I  see  it 
—that  they  are  in  favor  of  the  treaty  if  our 
traditional  policies,  interests  and  freedom  of 
action  are  fully  safeguarded,  it  seems  unneces 
sary  to  delay  this  most  important  question  for 
a  general  election  in  which  their  views  could 
hardly  be  more  decisively  expressed  than 
have  already  been. 


IV 


WITH  reference  to  my  views  on  our  for 
eign  policy,  I  am  in  favor  of  and  shall  continue 
to  be  in  favor  of  the  well-established  policy  of 


48  Leonard  Wood 

this  Government  which  conserves  and  pro 
motes  the  interests  of  our  own  country.  I  do 
not  think  this  treaty  with  the  reservations  im 
pairs  that  policy.  It  does  not  entangle  us;  it 
leaves  us  free  to  exercise  our  own  judgment; 
it  is  temporary.  If  we  choose  to  have  it  so, 
we  can  retire  on  two  years'  notice. 

One  aim  of  America's  foreign  policy  has  al 
ways  been  the  promotion  of  the  peace  of  the 
world.  In  order  to  accomplish  this  end  her 
people  must  be  free  in  any  given  situation  to 
stand  for  righteousness  according  to  their 
judgment.  As  an  important  means  to  that 
end,  instrumentalities  should  be  created  and 
developed  by  which,  consistently  with  this  free 
dom,  the  momentum  of  the  other  free  and 
peace-loving  nations  of  the  world,  acting  con 
currently  with  us,  can  be  added  to  our  efforts. 


THE  FARMER — His  RIGHTS  AND  WRONGS 


AGRICULTURE  is  the  principal  source 
of  our  wealth.  The  farmers  are  the  stable, 
conservative  element.  They  stand  for  good 
government,  for  the  rights  of  property  and  the 
rights  of  men.  The  Red  Flag  never  flies  over 
a  farmhouse. 

The  decrease  in  agricultural  production 
compared  with  the  increase  in  the  population 
of  the  country  and  the  number  of  people  who 
live  and  work  on  the  farms  is  disastrous  and 
should  not  continue.  In  other  words,  the  food 
supply  should  never  be  allowed  to  fall  below 
the  country's  requirements.  We  ought  always 
to  be  self-sustaining. 

During  the  war,  under  every  sort  of  handi 
cap,  the  farmers  of  America  rendered  magnifi 
cent  service  in  producing  the  food  necessary  to 
feed  not  only  the  United  States  but  very 
largely  our  Allies.  They  sent  their  sons  to 

49 


50  Leonard  Wood 

war  and  in  spite  of  the  shortage  of  labor  and 
by  dint  of  increased  effort  they  tremendously 
increased  this  country's  output  of  food.  Had 
they  not  done  so,  it  would  have  been  impos 
sible  for  us  to  have  taken  our  part  in  the  war 
as  we  did.  The  wrar  would  have  dragged  on 
and  probably  been  lost.  Now  the  farmers  feel 
that  their  service  was  not  adequately  recog 
nized. 

The  farmers  constitute  a  full  third  of  our 
population,  and  the  welfare  of  the  nation  is 
practically  bound  up  with  theirs.  Yet  the 
benefits  of  modern  civilization  have  not  been 
extended  to  our  rural  communities  in  any  such 
measure  as  they  have  a  right  to  demand. 

Education  for  farm  children  should  be  uni 
versally  accessible.  Rural  schools  should  be 
up  to  the  standards  of  city  schools  in  every 
way.  The  little  state  of  Denmark,  we  are  told, 
has  managed  to  build  up  a  system  of  rural 
schools  that  leads  the  world.  No  doubt  this 
explains  the  reason  why  Denmark  leads  the 
world  in  agricultural  productivity  per  acre 
under  cultivation.  There  is  no  reason  why  we, 
with  our  greater  resources,  cannot  duplicate 
Denmark's  feat,  even  outstrip  it.  Moreover, 
if  we  are  to  keep  up  our  national  progress,  we 


On  National  Issues  51 

must  see  to  it  that  our  farming  population  has 
comparatively  equal  educational,  social,  politi 
cal  and  economic  advantages  with  our  urban 
population. 


ii 


LOXG  hours  of  labor,  lack  of  proper  re 
turns,  and  lack  of  social  and  intellectual  at 
tractions  are  largely  responsible  for  the  con 
stant  flow  of  young  men  and  women  from  the 
farms  to  the  towns  and  cities.  We  have  done 
little  or  nothing  to  make  farm  surroundings 
more  attractive  or  farm  labor  less  of  a  drudg 
ery.  We  have  not  developed  our  rural  high 
ways  and  modes  of  communication  as  they 
should  be. 

Every  sound  and  normal  man  and  woman 
should  have  a  fair  and  workable  chance  to  earn 
a  living  and  to  receive  the  benefits  of  their  toil, 
a  fair  and  workable  chance  for  a  decent,  use 
ful  and  desirable  life,  with  a  chance  to  marry 
and  support  a  family,  and  give  the  children  a 
reasonable  opportunity  for  a  reasonable  start. 

The  farmers  have  a  right  to  expect  from 
every  national  administration  a  Department 
of  Agriculture  in  full  and  intelligent  co-opera- 


52  Leonard  Wood 

tion  with  them  and  the  great  farm  organiza 
tions  of  America.  They  deserve  to  be  given 
the  results  of  thorough  and  intelligent  study 
as  to  the  cost  of  farm  products  at  home  and 
abroad,  and  should  be  furnished  the  uncen- 
sored  facts. 

We  must  keep  constantly  in  mind  one  most 
important  fact,  which  is  that  nothing  must  be 
permitted  to  interfere  with  ample  production. 
There  must  be  no  fixing  of  prices  which  will 
result  to  the  detriment  of  the  farmer.  In 
deed,  price  fixing,  especially  minimum  price 
fixing,  should  be  entered  into  most  cautiously 
and  only  when  it  is  certain  that  good  and  not 
harm  will  result. 

I  believe  in  a  far  larger  measure  of  direct 
dealing  between  producers  and  consumers  of 
food.  Today  altogether  too  small  a  portion 
of  the  consumer's  dollar  gets  back  to  the 
farmer.  In  Omaha  the  other  day  I  met  a 
farmer  who  was  getting  his  breakfast  at  a 
hotel  in  the  city.  He  said  to  me:  "I  sell  my 
milk  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  at  eight 
cents  and  three  hours  later  I  find  it  selling  at 
fifteen  cents.  After  a  year's  work — for  I 
raised  the  cow,  fed  her,  milked  her  and  brought 
the  milk  to  market — I  get  only  eight  cents. 


On  National  Issues  53 

After  three  hours'  work  another  fellow  gets 
fifteen  cents.  Some  one  in  between  gets  seven 
cents  in  a  few  hours.  How  does  he  do  it? 
That's  what  I  want  to  find  out."  The  farmer 
feels  that  he  has  a  right  to  sell  directly  to  the 
consumer  wherever  he  can.  Means  should  he 
furnished  him  for  greatly  amplifying  his  op 
portunity  in  this  direction. 

in 

I  BELIEVE,  and  I  think  most  persons 
who  have  given  the  matter  thought  will  agree 
with  me,  that  we  have  permitted  too  much  of 
speculation  to  grow  up  in  the  handling  of  life 
necessities.  I  think  there  can  be  no  question 
that  the  number  of  middlemen  in  trade  can  be 
reduced  with  advantage  to  our  economic  life, 
to  both  producer  and  consumer.  While  the 
storage  of  food  supplies  is  absolutely  neces 
sary  to  feed  our  people,  since  crops  are  not 
produced  throughout  the  year,  the  hoarding  of 
food  supplies  should  be  severely  punished  and 
vigorously  suppressed. 

Much  has  been  done  in  the  way  of  co-opera 
tion  among  the  farmers  of  Europe;  co-opera 
tion  in  marketing  their  products  and  co-opera 
tion  in  purchasing.  Big  business  and  large  or- 


54  Leonard  Wood 

ganizations  of  workingmen  have  come  to  real 
ize  that  the  best  results  are  often  obtained  by 

* 

co-operation.  This  should  not  involve  dis 
crimination  against  any  man  who  chooses  to 
work  for  himself,  because  there  are  always 
positions  in  which  individual  work  is  the  best. 

I  believe  that  co-operative  organizations  of 
farmers  should  be  given  the  same  considera 
tion  as  to  other  organizations  under  similar 
circumstances. 

Secure  provision  should  be  made  to  enable 
farmers  to  obtain  adequate  credit  so  as  to  de 
velop  and  improve  their  land.  Steps  should 
be  taken  to  increase  the  production  of  neces 
sary  fertilizers,  so  that  the  farmer  may  never 
be  without  an  adequate  supply.  Steps  should 
be  taken  looking  to  the  increased  production 
of  nitrates.  We  are  still  dependent  for  our 
nitrates  upon  importations  from  Chile,  and  in 
case  of  war  with  a  power  controlling  the  seas 
this  great  supply  of  fertilizers  would  be  cut 
off.  We  should  push  forward  at  once  the  com 
pletion  of  the  nitrate  producing  plants  com 
menced  during  the  war.  It  is  very  essential 
that  the  country  should  be  entirely  self-sup 
porting  and  in  no  way  dependent  upon  other 
nations  for  fertilizers. 


On  National  Issues  55 

IV 

THE  gradual  abolition  of  farm  tenancy 
would  be  a  healthy  development.  Since  our 
earliest  beginnings,  the  typical  farmer  has 
owned  the  land  and  has  cultivated  it  with  the 
aid  of  his  own  sons  and  a  few  hired  men.  We 
do  not  wish  this  type  of  farmer  to  be  sup 
planted  by  one  who  holds  his  lands  as  a  tenant. 
We  do  not  wish  to  see  the  farmers  absorbed  by 
the  big  land  holders  to  the  detriment  of  our 
best  farming  interests.  The  tenant  farmer 
should  be  encouraged  through  a  liberal  system 
of  credits  to  buy  and  own  his  land.  Tenant 
farming  generally  means  the  exhaustion  of  the 
soil.  The  tenant  farmer  takes  out  as  much  as 
possible  from  the  soil  and  puts  in  as  little  as  he 
can.  The  result  is  the  gradual  falling  off  of 
production  from  one  of  the  most  serious  of  all 
causes,  deterioration  of  the  soil. 

We  want  to  maintain  the  traditional  type  of 
farmer — the  man  who  lives  upon  and  owns  the 
land.  To  do  this  we  must  make  his  life  and 
surroundings  as  attractive  and  comfortable  as 
possible.  The  man  who  owns  the  land  and  tills 
it  is  the  man  who  stands  for  good  government, 
conservation,  the  rights  of  property,  law  and 


56  Leonard  Wood 

order — in  fact,  for  those  basic  principles  which 
give  a  nation  stability  and  life. 

A  wide  extension  of  the  present  Farm 
Bureau  System,  in  co-operation  with  various 
State  agricultural  departments  and  local  com 
mittees,  seems  to  me  most  desirable.  It  ought 
to  solve  many  of  the  economic  questions  which 
confront  the  farmer,  problems  which  are  ever- 
varying,  problems  of  production  and  distribu 
tion.  All  this  work  should  be  done  under  the 
expert  advice,  guidance  and  assistance  of  the 
Government. 

One  of  the  great  problems  which  confront 
us  is  not  only  to  keep  up  an  agricultural  popu 
lation,  but  to  increase  it.  By  multiplying  the 
farmer's  opportunities  for  improving  his  farm 
and  production  we  will  continue  to  make  this 
a  self-sustaining  nation.  The  moment  the  out 
put  of  farms  falls  below  the  demands  of  our 
people,  new  and  grave  problems  will  confront 
us. 

In  order  to  keep  up  increasing  interest  in 
agriculture  we  must  give  heed  to  existing  con 
ditions  of  discontent  and  take  intelligent  steps 
to  remedy  them.  The  increase  in  urban  popu 
lation  at  the  expense  of  rural  and  agricultural 
means  increased  unrest,  increased  cost  of  liv- 


On  National  Issues  57 

ing  and  diminished  stability.     Let  us  give  to 
the  agricultural  class  the  attention  it  deserves. 


IN  building  up  the  republic  of  Cuba  from 
the  wreck  of  a  war-worn  Spanish  colony,  I 
turned  my  attention  first  to  order  and  to  agri 
culture  as  the  foundations  upon  which  the 
structure  must  rest.  The  returns  were  mar 
velous.  We  pushed  forward  agriculture  as 
rapidly  as  possible.  Taxation  was  suspended 
on  all  estates  whose  owners  were  attempting 
to  put  them  under  production.  Farmers  were 
furnished  food,  supplies  and  implements  which 
enabled  them  to  live  on  the  farm  and  plant  and 
harvest  their  crops.  Animals  were  imported 
ar  turned  over  to  farmers  on  easy  terms,  se 
curities  being  taken  in  form  of  liens  on  prop 
erty.  Import  duties  on  all  agricultural  and 
plantation  supplies  and  machinery  were  re 
duced  to  merely  nominal  rates.  The  result 
was  that  in  a  very  short  time  agriculture  was  in 
a  most  flourishing  condition,  and,  figuratively 
speaking,  for  every  dime  of  outlay  there  was  a 
dollar  in  return.  The  sugar  crop  jumped 
from  200,000  tons  per  year  to  nearly  1,200,000 
tons  in  less  than  three  years,  and  tobacco  in 
creased  in  proportion.  The  money  received 


58  Leonard  Wood 

from  crops  was  expended  largely  in  rehabili 
tating  the  island.  Revenues  increased;  peace 
and  tranquillity  went  hand  in  hand  with  ad 
vancing  agriculture.  Today  the  foundation  of 
the  prosperity  of  the  island  of  Cuha  rests 
squarely  on  its  agriculture. 

VI 

THERE  should  be  much  more  attention 
paid  to  the  development  of  stock  throughout 
the  country.  I  shall  never  forget  the  words 
of  the  Secretary  of  Agriculture  of  the  Argen 
tine  Republic  when  I  commented  on  the  tre 
mendous  prices  the  Argentine  was  paying  for 
selected  stock  for  breeding  purposes:  "Oh,  yes, 
we  do  pay  high  prices ;  but  for  every  dollar  we 
pay  for  good  stock  we  get  back  hundreds  of 
dollars  from  increased  quality."  And  as  one 
looked  at  the  great  beef  herds  of  square,  blocky 
Herefords,  one  could  understand  what  lie 
meant.  So  it  was  with  all  other  lines  of  stock 
whether  cattle,  horses  or  sheep.  To  secure  the 
best  of  stock  was  the  object  of  the  government. 
There  is  no  question  that  much  more 
could  be  done  advantageously  by  our  Govern 
ment  to  aid  in  the  improvement  of  stock  with 
out  any  great  increase  in  expense  to  the 
farmer. 


TEACHERS,  MOULDERS  or  THE  FUTURE 


THERE  is  much  work  to  be  done  in  behalf 
of  our  public  schools.  The  draft  showed  a 
very  alarming  condition  of  physical  unfitness. 
Practically  fifty  per  cent  of  the  American  men 
between  the  ages  of  twenty-one  and  thirty- 
one  were  unfit  for  hard  front-line  service. 
That  is  a  rather  alarming  condition.  It  is  bad 
enough  from  a  military  standpoint;  it  is  infi 
nitely  worse  from  the  standpoint  of  industry, 
and  it  is  peculiarly  sad  when  one  remembers 
that  most  of  the  defects,  at  least  a  very  large 
percentage  of  them,  could  have  been  done  away 
with  by  a  thorough  calisthenic  training  in  the 
public  schools.  I  think  that  is  one  thing  we 
ought  to  interest  ourselves  in,  to  strive  to  bet 
ter  the  training  in  the  public  schools. 

We  need  a  broader  moral  training  in  public 
schools.  I  do  not  mean  narrow  sectarian 
training,  but  we  must  teach  more  of  the  broad 
moral  principles.  We  want  to  teach  in  our 
schools  at  all  times  a  spirit  of  truth,  of  fair 
play,  the  square  deal,  honesty  and  loyalty,  de- 

59 


60  Leonard  Wood 

votion,  good  citizenship,  and  the  spirit  of  serv 
ice  and  sacrifice.  All  these  ought  to  be  built 
up  in  the  schoolroom,  and  in  that  connection 
very  serious  consideration  ought  to  be  given 
to  the  condition  of  your  teaching  forces  in  both 
universities  and  public  schools. 

II 

TEACHERS  are  very  much  underpaid. 
There  is  no  class  today  in  America  which  has 
the  opportunity  to  do  more  important  or  more 
constructive  work  in  the  building  up  of  good 
citizenship,  I  do  not  know  that  I  could  except 
the  church  itself,  than  those  who  are  teaching 
in  our  universities  and  schools.  They  are  form 
ing  the  men  and  women  of  tomorrow.  They 
are  working  quietly  but  effectively  day  after 
day,  week  after  week  and  month  after  month. 
They  have  our  children  with  them  much  more 
than  we  have  them,  and  as  they  incline  the 
minds  of  these  youngsters  so  will  they  be  later 
on.  They  are  not  only  implanting  knowledge, 
evoking  power  and  teaching  the  children  how 
to  use  the  knowledge  they  give  them,  but  they 
are  also  waging  that  silent  battle  against  igno 
rance  and  prejudice  upon  the  successful  out 
come  of  which  depends  very  largely  the  stabil- 


On  National  Issues  61 

ity  of  this  country.  The  average  country 
school  teacher  in  many  sections  of  this  country 
receives  less  than  the  average  first-class  chauf 
feur.  The  college  professor  is  not  paid  as 
well  as  the  average  good  bricklayer,  and  the 
result  has  been  that  since  the  war  many  of  our 
ablest  professors  and  teachers  have  had  to  seek 
employment  in  other  lines  of  work. 

in 

WE  want  in  this  country  for  our  teaching 
force  men  and  women  of  the  very  best  intelli 
gence,  and  of  the  highest  character.  Many  of 
the  very  best  are  staying,  it  is  true,  because 
they  have  the  missionary  spirit,  because  of  love 
of  the  work.  The  teaching  force  of  America 
is  making  the  citizens  of  tomorrow,  and  it  is  a 
most  important  duty.  Pay  them  well  and 
treat  them  well. 

We  talk  of  other  things,  and  of  many  pro 
gressive  ideas,  and  so  forth,  but  one  of  the  big, 
practical  things  is  to  see  to  it  that  the  teaching 
force  of  America  is  given  the  recognition 
which  it  is  entitled  to,  because  you  cannot  trifle 
with  the  education  and  training  of  your  chil 
dren.  As  your  children  are  trained  and  edu 
cated,  so  will  the  Ship  of  State  be  tomorrow. 


62  Leonard  Wood 

The  security  of  our  Republic  rests  largely  on 
the  educational  system  of  the  States. 

We  want  to  put  into  our  high  schools  a  great 
deal  more  of  sound,  economic  training  than  we 
have  hitherto.  We  ought  to  give  at  least  the 
fundamentals  of  economic  training  in  the  lower 
schools,  and  in  the  high  schools  it  ought  to  be 
gone  into  pretty  thoroughly.  That  an  honest 
day's  wage  means  an  honest  day's  work;  that 
the  real  remedy  for  the  high  cost  of  living  is 
increased  production;  that  the  real  enemies 
of  labor  are  those  who  talk  reduced  produc 
tion.  We  want  to  drive  some  of  those  ideas 
home.  When  our  children  go  out  from  the 
schools  and  colleges  they  want  to  have  more 
than  a  mere  superficial  knowledge  of  many 
things;  so  let  us  teach  a  little  more  of  these 
basic,  homely  principles,  and  let  us  try  to  drive 
home,  too,  something  more  in  the  way  of  infor 
mation  as  to  what  our  Government  stands  for, 
how  it  is  run,  how  it  is  operated,  what  the  Con 
stitution  means,  what  is  meant  by  the  Consti 
tutional  guarantee. 

We  want  to  impress  upon  all  our  children 
that  the  Constitution  is  vital  to  our  national 
life,  and  that  every  step  we  have  taken  away 
from  it  has  been  a  step  toward  chaos. 


IMMIGRATION  WITHOUT  ASSIMILATION 


WE  must  give  more  care  to  our  immigra 
tion.  We  must  look  into  the  quality  of  our 
immigration.  We  have  put  all  the  sand  into 
our  cement  that  it  will  stand.  There  is  no 
use  having  the  portals  open  on  the  one  hand 
for  the  deportation  of  the  alien  Red  and  wide 
open  on  the  other  hand  for  the  admission  of 
the  undesirable  immigrant. 

We  need  a  certain  amount  of  immigration, 
but  we  have  a  right  to  know  something  of  the 
quality  of  the  people  who  come  here,  and  we 
are  negligent  in  our  duty  if  we  do  not  ascer 
tain  very  carefully  what  the  quality  of  those 
people  is.  It  is  not  enough  that  they  shall  be 
physically  sound  and  of  reasonable  mental  in 
telligence,  but  we  have  a  right  to  know  whether 
they  come  from  the  anarchistic  group,  whose 
religion  is  destruction  and  whose  object  is  the 
ruin  of  all  government.  We  do  not  want  this 
class  to  come  into  this  country. 

63 


64  Leonard  Wood 

As  we  look  over  Europe  today  we  see  this 
great  wave  of  unrest,  the  so-called  Red  move 
ment.  It  is  beating  now  on  the  frontiers  of 
Hungary,  it  is  beating  against  the  remnants 
of  the  German  army;  you  find  North  Italy 
under  martial  law,  and  in  Spain  you  find  great 
unrest.  You  find  France  bled  white  by  war, 
trying  to  re-establish  order  and  prosperity,  to 
rebuild  a  devastated  country  and  start  again 
the  wheels  of  commerce.  In  England  you 
have  another  nation  bled  white  by  war  but 
struggling  tremendously  and  with  great  intel 
ligence  and  energy  to  re-establish  her  com 
merce  and  gain  the  main  trade  areas. 

We  do  not  know  just  why  this  unrest  has 
come  to  our  country,  but  to  a  certain  extent 
it  has  come.  We  do  not  want  to  have  this 
element  increased.  We  should  deport  the 
man  who  comes  here  determined  to  tear  down 
our  institutions,  and  we  should  deport  him 
through  due  legal  processes,  but  very  prompt 
ly.  There  is  no  use  of  arresting  thousands  of 
people  in  a  spectacular  manner  and  then  fail 
ing  to  deport  them  if  they  are  found  unfit  to  be 
citizens. 


On  National  Issues  65 

II 

I  THINK  we  ought  to  look  over  the  people 
who  are  coming  here,  just  as  we  look  over  men 
and  women  before  we  give  them  a  passport  in 
time  of  war.  They  go  to  our  consular  and 
diplomatic  agents  and  are  examined  very  care 
fully  before  a  passport  is  issued.  We  ought 
to  have  a  searching  examination  of  the  immi 
grants  who  are  coming  to  America  now  and 
in  the  future. 

You  know  these  people  are  going  to  live 
among  you ;  their  children  are  going  to  marry 
your  children ;  their  blood  is  going  to  be  inter 
mingled  with  yours.  We  are  all  of  us  inter 
ested  in  the  maintenance  of  the  highest  possible 
standard  in  America,  and  we  must  look  much 
more  carefully  to  immigration  into  our  coun 
try  than  we  have  in  the  past. 

When  these  people  arrive  I  think  we  ought 
to  hold  them  for  a  time  under  observation ;  not 
for  a  long  time,  but  long  enough  to  give  them 
a  course  in  intensive  Americanization  and 
teach  them  what  our  Government  stands  for, 
the  difference  between  liberty  and  license,  and 
impress  upon  them  that  here  true  liberty  is 
found  within  the  law  and  never  outside  of  it; 


66  Leonard  Wood 

try  to  give  them  an  idea  of  the  conditions  un 
der  which  they  are  going  to  live. 

What  happens  now?  As  soon  as  the  immi 
grant  comes  ashore  he  goes  to  live  usually  in  a 
racial  area,  to  be  fed  on  a  dialect  press.  I 
think  we  ought  to  try  to  obviate  that  and  to 
use  our  best  influence  to  have  these  people  go 
to  sections  of  the  country  where  their  previous 
training  will  be  of  the  most  use  to  us,  and  of 
the  greatest  value  to  them;  where  they  will 
have  the  best  opportunity  to  succeed.  New 
York,  for  instance,  is  the  largest  Italian  city 
in  the  world,  and  some  of  our  other  cities  have 
enormous  racial  groups,  and  there  they  are  in 
congested  racial  masses,  fed  by  a  dialect  press 
and  retaining  the  ideals  and  prejudices  of  their 
own  lands,  at  times  even  stronger  than  they 
were  in  the  old  country. 


WE  are  glad  to  welcome  the  immigrant  who 
comes  here  to  adopt  our  institutions  and  live 
up  to  our  standards  and  ideals.  If  he  comes 
with  the  intention  of  becoming  a  part  of  us 
and  to  support  our  Government,  we  are  glad 
to  have  him ;  but  we  should  turn  our  faces  like 


On  National  Issues  67 

flint  against  the  class  of  people  who  are  com 
ing  here  with  avowed  dislike  for  our  institu 
tions  and  with  declared  intention  of  pulling 
down  our  Government.  We  ought  not,  with 
this  condition  of  unrest  prevailing  throughout 
the  world,  receive  this  kind  of  people.  We 
have  the  right  and  the  moral  obligation  to  our 
own  people  of  today  and  those  who  will  live 
tomorrow,  to  see  that  the  people  who  are  com 
ing  here  to  be  the  Americans  of  tomorrow  are 
of  the  right  kind ;  that  they  are  for  us  and  not 
against  us. 

While  we  are  proud  that  America  is  called 
the  home  for  the  oppressed,  let  us  see  to  it  that 
she  does  not  become  the  dumping  ground  of 
the  degenerate. 


IV 


AMERICANIZATION  of  the  alien  and 
some  native  born  is  one  of  the  great  tasks  be 
fore  us.  We  have  got  to  drive  this  home  to 
our  people.  Our  work  is  not  going  to  be  lim 
ited  entirely  to  foreigners  and  those  who  have 
come  to  us  and  have  not  been  assimilated,  but 
it  has  to  be  applied  to  a  good  many  who  have 
been  born  here.  We  want  to  get  rid  of  the 


68  Leonard  Wood 

Red  element,  ship  it  out,  keep  any  more  from 
coming  in,  and  take  hold  of  the  problem  of 
Americanization  very  seriously  among  our 
newcomers.  Teach  them  to  love  our  flag. 
They  may  have  a  sentimental  fondness  for 
their  own  flag  and  own  language.  We  want 
to  stand,  however,  in  this  country  for  one  lan 
guage  in  the  public  schools,  for  one  flag  and 
one  loyalty,  and  we  must  do  it  if  we  are  going 
to  build  up  that  spirit  of  solidarity  which  we 
want.  We  want  to  build  up  an  intense  Ameri 
can  spirit;  not  a  selfish  spirit  but  an  intense 
American  spirit,  America,  first  and  a  long  way 
first.  This  is  what  we  want.  And,  we  should 
have  behind  that  spirit  an  American  con 
science,  a  conscience  which  will  make  this 
nation  do  its  duty  whenever  called  upon  to  do 
it,  and  do  it  promptly. 

In  these  days  there  is  a  good  deal  of  talk  of 
mandates,  but  the  mandate  that  our  people 
will  always  accept  is  that  mandate  which  comes 
from  the  conscience  of  the  American  people. 
That  is  the  mandate  which  Americans  will  re 
spond  to  and  no  other. 

We  have  one  such  mandate  now.  It  is  that 
we,  with  the  wealth  that  has  come  to  us,  shall 
do  all  that  is  humanly  possible  to  alleviate  the 


On  National  Issues  69 

conditions  of  destitution  and  suffering  in  Eu 
rope.  This  does  not  mean  sending  men  over 
seas  arms  in  hand;  nor  does  it  involve  us  in 
the  intrigues  of  European  diplomacy,  but  it 
means  simply  doing  our  duty  as  a  Christian 
nation.  There  are  literally  millions  of  people 
who  stand  without  shelter,  without  food,  with 
out  necessary  clothing.  It  is  a  condition  un 
paralleled  in  the  world's  history.  It  is  a  condi 
tion  we  can  do  a  lot  to  alleviate  and  in  doing 
it  we  make  no  enemies,  we  become  entangled 
in  no  entangling  alliances. 


OUR  DEFENSIVE  WEAPONS 


WE  need  a  highly  efficient  but  small  Regu 
lar  Army,  200,000  to  250,000  men,  sufficient 
for  the  peace  needs  of  the  nation,  and  a  first- 
class  Navy,  always  ready. 

We  must  have  a  definite  and  well-established 
policy  of  national  preparedness.  Never  again 
must  we  permit  America  to  be  caught  so  ut 
terly  unprepared  and  unready  as  we  were  in 
the  Great  World  War.  We  paid  for  this  lack 
of  preparation  in  blood  and  treasure.  We 
grant  universal  suffrage ;  we  must  demand  uni 
versal  obligation  for  service  in  peace  and  war 
whenever  the  nation  calls.  To  fail  to  do  this 
is  to  deny  the  basic  principles  upon  which  the 
Republic  rests,  equality  of  opportunity  and 
equality  of  obligation  within  the  limit  of  our 
powers. 

The  Army  of  the  Republic  should  be  built 
up  with  the  idea  of  maintaining  the  smallest 
number  of  men  living  the  lives  of  professional 

71 


72  Leonard  Wood 

soldiers,  only  enough  to  give  us  an  army  suffi 
cient  for  the  peace  needs  of  the  nation,  but  be 
hind  it  some  system  which  will  give  our  youth 
enough  training  to  make  them  quickly  avail 
able  in  case  of  attack. 


II 


WE  must  insure  the  largest  possible  amount 
of  security,  together  with  the  absolute  avoid 
ance  of  anything  un-American  or  militaristic, 

We  won't  call  it  compulsory  military  train 
ing,  but  training  for  national  service  which 
will  combine  vocational,  industrial  and  citi 
zenship  training.  They  all  go  together  in  the 
making  of  the  American  citizen. 

We  are  concerned  with  the  making  of  bet 
ter,  more  effective  men.  The  soldier  training 
is  only  a  part  in  the  making  of  the  citizens  of 
the  Republic. 

The  young  men  who  have  been  through  this 
war  are  the  men  to  whom  this  country  is  going 
to  look  for  a  military  policy.  It  has  got  to 
be  an  American  military  policy  on  purely  dem 
ocratic  lines,  but  there  must  be  some  kind  of 
policy,  and  when  we  get  over  the  war  weari 
ness  and  give  our  attention  to  home  affairs 


On  National  Issues  73 

the  country  is  going  to  look  to  the  American 
Legion  to  outline  a  military  policy,  one  found 
ed  on  the  wisdom  of  experience. 

We  should  have  a  strong  but  conservative 
foreign  policy,  not  an  aggressive  or  bullying 
policy,  but  the  foreign  policy  indicated  in  the 
words  of  Theodore  Roosevelt,  "Speak  softly 
but  carry  a  big  stick."  He  believed  in  a  for 
eign  policy  which  assured  the  safety  of  Ameri 
can  citizens  who  are  living  within  the  laws  of 
the  land  of  their  abode,  no  matter  where.  You 
remember  when  an  American  was  captured  by 
some  North  African  bandit  the  words  of 
Roosevelt,  "Perdicaris  alive  or  Raisuli  dead." 
That  has  the  American  ring  and  means  safety 
to  Americans  and  American  interests. 


AMERICANIZATION 


IF  Theodore  Roosevelt  were  here  now,  I 
believe  that  he  would  feel  the  same  keen  inter 
est  that  we  do  in  the  great  issues  of  the  day. 
The  war  is  over,  but  the  problems  after  the 
war  are  confronting  us  and  they  are  rather 
large  and  some  of  them  are  rather  serious.  We 
want  to  bring  to  the  solution  of  these  problems 
the  same  kind  of  enthusiasm,  the  same  co 
operation  of  effort,  that  we  have  brought  to 
the  conduct  of  the  war.  We  want  to  do  all 
we  can  first  toward  Americanizing  the  new 
comers.  We  have  been  doing  our  work  very 
superficially  thus  far.  Marching  in  the  street 
parades  and  carrying  banners,  while  the  na 
tional  air  is  being  played,  is  not  Americani 
zation. 

We  want  to  take  up  very  systematically  and 
earnestly  real  Americanization.  I  think  we 
want  to  have  throughout  the  graded  public 

75 


76  Leonard  Wood 

schools  but  one  language.  I  think  the  slogan 
ought  to  be  that  in  the  graded  schools  of  this 
country  there  should  be  only  one  language 
and  that  language  the  language  of  the  Decla 
ration  of  Independence. 


ii 


WE  want  to  build  up  a  strong,  intense 
American  spirit,  not  selfish,  but  a  real  Ameri 
can  spirit.  We  must  avoid  dangerous  inter 
nationalism  as  we  would  avoid  death,  for  it 
means  national  death.  There  must  be  a  strong, 
well-balanced  nation.  We  want  an  intense 
national  spirit,  helpful  to  the  world  in  trouble, 
but  still  American,  and  we  want  behind  it  an 
American  conscience  which  will  make  America 
always  quickly  responsive  to  her  duties.  We 
want  a  real  American  conscience,  a  Christian 
conscience. 

Americanization  is  a  vital  subject  in  these 
days  when  there  is  so  much  unrest  in  the  world. 
The  Red  menace  is  rapidly  sweeping  over 
Europe.  We  are  looking  on  the  rather  thin 
line  of  the  defenders  of  the  integrity  of  Hun 
gary  and  Poland,  and  we  wonder  whether  that 
thin  line  is  going  to  be  strong  enough  to  hold 


On  National  Issues  77 

up  the  force  of  disorganization.  We  find  the 
spirit  of  unrest  in  Spain  and  all  over  Europe. 
We  find  it  here.  But  I  think  that  the  mani 
festations  of  unrest  are  only  psychological 
phases.  They  are  here  because  they  are  in 
Europe. 

We  are  going  to  govern  this  country  by 
Americans.  When  I  say  Americans  I  do  not 
mean  necessarily  people  whose  families  have 
been  here  many  generations.  But  I  mean  the 
real  Americans,  the  people  who  have  adopted 
and  are  trying  to  live  up  to  our  standards  and 
ideals,  the  people  who  stand  for  law  and  or 
der,  who  stand  for  government  under  the  Con 
stitution,  who  adhere  to  a  policy  that  has  made 
vis  what  we  are,  who  are  ready  to  offer  every 
thing,  even  life  itself,  for  this  country.  These 
are  the  men  and  women  who  are  going  to  gov 
ern  this  country. 

in 

WE  want  to  make  it  possible  for  the  good 
foreigners,  who  wish  to  come  to  our  country 
and  become  American  citizens  and  live  by  our 
form  of  government,  to  come  to  our  land;  but 
we  do  not  want  to  be  a  dumping  ground  for 
radicals,  agitators,  Reds,  who  do  not  under- 


78  Leonard  Wood 

stand  our  ideals,  who  do  not  know  what  our 
ancestors  suffered  to  build  up  our  institutions 
and  who  have  no  respect  for  our  flag.  This 
can  be  done  by  a  more  careful  scrutiny  of  the 
immigrants  who  apply  for  admission  to  our 
country.  If  we  do  this,  it  will  save  us  a  great 
deal  of  the  agitation  which  has  been  frequent 
in  this  country  for  some  time.  We  should  also 
have  an  organized  system  for  distributing  the 
desirable  foreigners  in  sections  of  the  country 
where  they  can  do  the  things  that  they  have 
learned  to  do.  Those  who  have  been  farmers 
ought  to  go  to  the  country.  Those  who  have 
been  skilled  tradesmen,  to  the  trades  and  to 
the  factories  of  the  kind  that  they  have  been 
trained  in.  In  this  way  we  shall  be  able  to  ab 
sorb  the  foreigners  more  readily  than  if  they 
go  into  the  highly  congested  neighborhoods 
where  only  people  of  their  own  nationalities 
live. 

IV 

THE  I.  W.  W.  is  like  a  plague  of  infected 
rats.  At  Omaha,  they  drugged  the  crowd 
with  booze.  The  Reds  are  a  menace  to  the 
country.  The  red  flag  is  a  menace  to  our 
country. 


On  National  Issues  79 

We  must  strive  to  educate  these  foreigners 
in  the  ideals  of  Americanism.  We  must  as 
sure  them  that  equality  of  opportunity  is  given 
to  all  to  make  the  best  of  themselves;  that  all 
reforms  in  this  country  must  be  brought  about 
in  an  orderly  manner  and  that  we  believe  in 
Americanism  and  not  internationalism! 

In  this  work  of  Americanizing,  the  employer 
can  aid  a  great  deal  by  insisting  that  the  Eng 
lish  language  be  spoken  in  the  factories,  the 
mills  and  the  shops;  in  encouraging  foreign 
laborers  to  attend  night  schools  and  to  utilize 
the  newspapers  and  other  American  journals 
so  that  they  will  familiarize  themselves  with 
current  American  public  opinion,  which  is, 
after  all,  a  great  formative  influence  in  our 
American  political  life.  In  short,  if  the  em 
ployer  will  treat  these  foreigners,  who  are 
working  for  him,  with  as  much  consideration 
as  he  does  his  customers,  a  sympathetic  bond 
could  be  established  between  these  foreigners 
and  their  employers  that  could  not  very  well 
be  severed.  It  is  the  duty  of  every  loyaJ 
American  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  help  the 
country  in  the  great  task  of  absorbing  the  for 
eigner  and  Americanizing  those  who  have  come 
to  our  shores  from  foreign  lands.  If  we  all  co- 


80  Leonard  Wood 

operate  in  this  work  it  will  only  be  a  question 
of  a  short  time  before  the  doctrines  of  the  Reds 
will  find  no  fertile  fields  to  grow  in,  and  we 
shall  hear  no  more  about  revolution  and  vio 
lence. 

v 

WE  want  to  keep  our  feet  on  the  ground 
and  hold  on  to  the  ideals  and  policies  which 
have  made  us  great,  to  the  Constitution  and 
the  national  policies  whose  wisdom  has  been 
demonstrated  by  our  security  and  progress. 
We  must  do  all  we  can  to  build  up  a  sound 
national  spirit,  an  intense  spirit  of  Ameri 
canism. 

We  must  do  all  we  can  to  complete  the  work 
of  infusing  into  one  homogeneous  mass  of 
Americans  the  various  elements  which  make 
up  our  population.  We  have  had  in  our  ar 
mies  representatives  of  all  the  fighting  groups 
in  Europe,  and  I  want  to  say  a  word  of  appre 
ciation  of  the  loyalty  of  these  new  citizens, 
of  these  Americans  of  alien  descent.  We  were 
a  bit  uncertain  as  to  what  some  of  them  would 
do,  for  some  of  them  came  from  the  blood 
strains  of  our  enemies,  but  we  have  only  to 
read  the  lists  of  our  dead  to  realize  that  Ameri- 


On  National  Issues  81 

cans  of  German  and  other  descent  have  been 
loyal.  They  have  written  anew  their  oath  of 
allegiance.  This  time  it  has  been  written  in 
their  own  blood. 

These  new  people  are  now  a  part  of  us  in 
every  sense.  They  have  offered  their  lives  in 
defense  of  the  country.  They  have  stood  pre 
pared  to  make  the  supreme  sacrifice  and  many 
have  made  it.  So  let  us  hear  no  more  of  hy 
phenated  Americans,  and  look  upon  all  who 
have  been  loyal  and  lived  up  to  our  ideals  as 
Americans,  for  through  their  service  and  their 
loyalty  they  have  measured  up  to  the  standard 
of  true  Americans. 


ARBITRATION — ITS  VALUE  AND  LIMITATIONS 


MOST  men,  and  practically  all  soldiers, 
believe  in  the  principle  of  arbitration.  They 
are  anxious  to  see  its  application  extended  and 
amplified.  Yet  we  must  not  be  blind  to  the 
fact  that  it  is  not  of  general  application.  Ar 
bitration  can  be  resorted  to  only  when  both 
parties  believe  that  there  is  something  to  be 
arbitrated.  When  one  party  to  the  contro 
versy  is  confident  it  is  right,  is  absolutely  re 
solved  to  maintain  the  right  and  justice  of  its 
claims,  arbitration  appears  neither  desirable 
nor  reasonable.  Again,  many  questions  are 
of  vital  importance  to  one  nation  and  of  little 
or  no  importance  to  another.  The  vitally  in 
terested  party  does  not  care  to  arbitrate  these 
questions.  For  instance,  we  do  not  care  to 
arbitrate  questions  of  immigration.  Nations 
have  always  guarded  very  jealously  questions 
affecting  citizenship,  and  have  held  that  they 
are  questions  to  be  decided  by  the  nation  itself. 

83 


84  Leonard  Wood 

The  Monroe  Doctrine  is  another  instance. 
This  policy,  of  vital  importance  to  us,  is  not 
generally  approved  by  other  nations.  If  we 
should  submit  to  arbitration  questions  arising 
under  it  we  should  have  difficulty  in  finding 
an  impartial  board.  In  the  maintenance  of 
the  Monroe  Doctrine  we  have  had  the  unex 
pressed,  but  nevertheless  strong,  approval  of 
England.  So,  too,  the  most  vital  questions 
leading  to  the  present  Great  War  have  never 
been  subjects  of  arbitration. 


ii 


THERE  are  relatively  few  people  who  ap 
preciate  the  true  causes  of  war;  who  realize 
that  the  great  majority  of  wars  arise  through 
differences  or  controversies  concerning  com 
merce,  trade  routes,  trade  areas,  and  lines  of 
commercial  expansion.  Race  expansion  and, 
to  a  lesser  extent  than  heretofore,  religious 
differences  are  also  causes  of  war.  The  great 
underlying  causes,  in  most  cases,  run  back  di 
rectly  to  trade  or  to  the  possession  of  certain 
favorable  areas  for  racial  or  industrial  expan 
sion.  The  old  days  when  the  arbitrary  deci 
sion  of  kings  ordinarily  determined  whether 


On  National  Issues  85 

war  was  to  be  waged  or  peace  maintained  have 
practically  passed  away,  and  no  leader  or  ruler 
in  the  present  age  would  venture  to  involve  his 
people  in  war  unless  he  felt  that  he  had  their 
support. 

in 

THE  plan  for  an  alliance  of  nations  to  en 
force  world  peace  is  not  a  new  one.  The 
desire  for  such  peace  has  led  to  many  earnest 
efforts  to  build  up  agreements  and  alliances 
which  would  insure  it.  Thus  far  such  efforts 
have  been  without  lasting  success.  Coincident 
with  these  efforts  are  declarations  of  men  who, 
deeply  impressed  with  the  horrors  of  war,  hon 
estly  believe  that  each  great  war  is  the  last, 
and  announce  their  conclusions  to  the  world 
as  statements  of  fact.  Many  men  doubtlessly 
honestly  believed  before  the  beginning  of  the 
present  great  war  that  international  strife  on 
a  large  scale  was  passing  away.  Charlatans 
and  tricksters  and  professional  "peace-at-any- 
price"  men  backed  up  their  arguments  with 
the  statement  that  war  was  at  an  end,  hence 
there  was  no  need  of  preparation.  There  is 
nothing  new  in  this  propaganda.  It  is  as  old 
as  written  history.  War  has  been  always  one 


86  Leonard  Wood 

of  those  rugged  paths  of  suffering  through 
which  nations  have  from  time  to  time  had  to 
pass  in  the  discharge  of  their  duty  toward 
themselves  and  in  the  upholding  of  principles 
of  international  morality  and  right.  I  do  not 
now  refer  to  wars  of  conquest.  I  am  speaking 
simply  of  defensive  wars  or  wars  for  great 
principles.  Charles  Sumner  believed  and 
stated  in  1848  that  the  world  had  seen  its  last 
great  war.  Some  of  our  professional  pacifists 
of  lighter  timber  and  louder  voices  were  pro 
claiming  over  the  entire  country  up  to  the  out 
break  of  the  present  war  that  the  Balkan  war 
was  the  last  of  the  world's  great  wars.  Block, 
the  author  of  that  remakable  book,  "The  Fu 
ture  of  War,"  which  had  much  to  do  with  the 
creation  of  the  Hague  Conference,  gave  ex 
tensive  reasons  why  a  great  war  could  not 
again  occur.  Even  our  distinguished  pacifists 
have  predicted  that  war  has  passed  out  of  the 
realm  of  possibility.  All  these  statements  are 
idle  and  wholly  unwarranted,  either  from  the 
standpoint  of  history  or  that  of  present  con 
ditions,  or  from  that  of  the  probabilities  of  the 
future,  which  must  be  judged  very  largely  by 
the  past. 


On  National  Issues  87 

IV 

IN  recent  times  we  have  had  various  alli 
ances  which  are  really  alliances  for  the  mainte 
nance  of  peace.  The  Triple  Alliance,  the 
Triple  Entente,  the  Entente  Cordiale,  are  all 
marked  efforts  in  this  direction,  all  of  which, 
as  the  recent  Great  War  indicates,  have  been 
doomed  to  failure.  I  doubt  very  much  whether 
this  country  will  ever  go  into  a  world  alliance 
and  pledge  herself  to  use  her  forces  to  main 
tain  peace  perhaps  at  the  expense  of  a  cause 
with  which  we  may  be  in  sympathy  and  more 
autocratic  forms  of  governments  riot.  Our  best 
policy  is  to  be  ready  to  defend  with  our  own 
arms  and  our  own  resources  our  territories, 
our  rights,  and  our  institutions.  One  of  the 
dangers  of  the  present  effort  in  the  line  of  an 
alliance  to  preserve  peace  by  force  of  arms  is 
that  it  still  further  delays  the  undertaking  of 
absolutely  necessary  organization  and  pre 
paredness. 

The  problem  which  confronts  us  is  one  of 
preparation,  such  preparation  as  will  make  all 
possible  antagonists  hesitate  before  forcing  us 
to  resort  to  war.  An  upright  and  just  life 
does  not  protect  the  individual  or  the  nation 


88  Leonard  Wood 

against  aggression.  The  best  men  who  have 
ever  lived  on  this  earth  have  suffered  martyr 
dom,  and  inoffensive  nations  have  been  swept 
ruthlessly  aside  by  more  powerful  ones  in 
whose  way  they  stood.  All  this  is  very  un 
fortunate,  but  it  is  fact.  Wars  will  become 
less  frequent  when  people  are  less  selfish  and 
more  moral.  Universal  responsibility  for  serv 
ice  will  help  build  up,  as  much  as  anything 
can,  a  habit  of  seriously  considering  and  weigh 
ing  the  causes  which  may  lead  to  war.  It  will 
not  prevent  war.  Wars  will  never  cease  until 
human  nature  is  radically  changed.  No  na 
tion  can  fold  its  hands  and  submit  to  oppres 
sion,  be  neutral  in  all  things,  both  good  and 
bad,  refuse  to  contest  any  issue,  and  continue 
to  exist.  It  will  be  swept  aside  and  absorbed 
by  other  and  more  vigorous  peoples,  or  linger 
an  inert  mass,  subject  to  the  will  of  others. 


NEEDED — SOUND   MINDS  IN   SOUND   BODIES 


THE  application  of  the  principle  of  uni 
versal  service  brought  to  the  colors  through 
the  draft,  first  and  last,  approximately  three 
million  men — men  from  all  sections  of  the 
country  and  from  all  the  races  and  race  mix 
tures  which  make  up  our  population. 

It  furnished  an  excellent  opportunity  to  see 
the  men  of  America  as  they  are,  and  while  the 
showing  was  splendid  in  all  that  which  related 
to  willingness  to  serve  the  Nation  in  time  of 
war,  either  in  the  ranks  or  wherever  sent,  and 
to  do  their  part  in  the  great  struggle  for  civ 
ilization  and  humanity,  for  good  faith  and  fair 
dealing  among  nations,  it  brought  to  our  at 
tention  certain  conditions  which  are  not  only 
regrettable  but  alarming.  Only  about  half  of 
the  men  of  military  age  are  really  fit  for  hard 
military  service.  This  rating  is  based  upon 
standards  of  physical  excellence  well  below 
those  of  the  Regular  Army,  Navy  and  Marine 
Corps  in  time  of  peace.  The  draft  boards 
sent  forward  to  the  training  camps  65  per 


90  Leonard  Wood 

cent  of  all  who  presented  themselves  for  en 
rollment  and  were  suitably  examined  by  the 
board.  Of  those  sent  to  the  training  camps 
an  average  of  7  per  cent  were  rejected  as  unfit 
for  any  service,  and  a  large  percentage  was 
sent  to  development  battalions,  and  others 
to  labor  battalions,  camp  utilities,  and  special 
lines  of  work  not  requiring  the  best  physical 
condition,  so  that,  deducting  all,  it  is  safe  to 
say  that  not  over  50  per  cent,  probably  less,  of 
the  men  were  fit  for  line  service  when  the  Na 
tion  was  called  to  the  colors. 

ii 

IN  some  of  the  racial  groups  from  certain 
sections  vice  diseases,  active  and  latent  but 
dangerous,  were  found  amounting  to  over 
30  per  cent.  Through  all  the  draft  there 
was  a  lamentable  and  alarmingly  heavy  per 
centage.  The  percentage  was  lower  among 
men  coming  from  the  agricultural  and  ranch 
ing  districts  of  the  Middle- West  and  North 
west;  much  heavier  among  the  colored  than 
among  the  white  race.  The  heaviest  percent 
ages,  taking  the  men  as  a  whole,  were  found 
among  those  coming  from  the  large  towns  and 
manufacturing  centers. 


On  National  Issues  91 

When  it  is  remembered  that  the  men  sent 
to  camps  for  training  had  passed  selective 
draft  boards,  and  that  they  represented  those 
who  were  considered  most  fit  to  undergo  train 
ing  and  preparation  for  military  service,  it 
does  not  take  much  imagination  to  picture  the 
physical  and  health  conditions  of  the  remain 
ing  29  per  cent.  Think  what  this  condition 
means:  what  its  effect  is  upon  the  race,  upon 
national  efficiency  and  national  morality  and 
character. 

I  believe  that,  generally  speaking,  the  per 
centage  of  vice  diseases  was  found  to  be  lower 
in  the  sections  of  the  country  where  women 
have  taken  an  active  part  in  public  affairs,  and 
in  those  sections  of  our  country  in  which  alco 
holic  liquors  are  not  to  be  obtained.  But 
throughout  the  nation  the  percentage  is  dis 
tressingly  heavy,  and  indicates  very  clearly 
the  need  of  stricter  enforcement  of  the  laws 
against  vice  and  increasing  efforts  everywhere 
to  stamp  out  the  social  evil. 

in 

THERE  were  numbers  of  men  with  diges 
tive  disturbances,  great  numbers  with  defective 
teeth,  defective  vision,  minor  curvatures  and 


92  Leonard  Wood 

deformities,  flat  feet,  ruptures,  either  actual 
or  incipient ;  general  defects  in  the  way  of  flat 
chests,  stooping  postures,  ear  troubles,  and 
large  numbers  of  men  suffering  from  hook 
worm,  with  its  accompanying  ansemia  and 
sluggishness  of  mind  and  muscle.  Many  of 
these  defects,  in  fact  most  of  them,  were  in  a 
way  unknown  to  the  men.  They  had  grown 
up  that  way.  They  felt  no  special  conscious 
ness  of  being  physically  defective.  There  were 
many  men  in  whom  the  co-ordination  of  mind 
and  muscle  was  very  poor.  Their  impulses 
were  slow  and  their  reaction  sluggish.  In 
other  words,  the  co-ordination  of  mind  and 
muscle  was  far  from  what  it  should  have  been. 
While  many  of  these  defects  were  suscep 
tible  of  cure  or  of  such  improvement  as  would 
render  the  men  fit  for  some  kind  of  service, 
and  to  carry  on  the  ordinary  duties  and  labors 
of  men  in  time  of  peace,  remember,  always, 
that  these  were  among  the  70  per  cent  who 
represented  those  considered  fit  for  service. 
In  the  other  30  per  cent  much  worse  condi 
tions  existed.  This  is  not  an  attractive  pic 
ture  ;  but  it  is  one  well  worth  considering  and 
studying  with  a  view  to  the  correction  and  bet 
terment  of  conditions  referred  to. 


On  National  Issues  93 

IV 

WHEN  the  men  came  to  camp  they  were 
thoroughly  gone  over,  and  those  who  were  not 
considered  fit  for  full  training  were  placed  in 
development  battalions,  where  each  man  re 
ceived  such  special  treatment  as  his  case  de 
manded,  and  a  large  number  of  them  were 
eventually  made  fit  for  service.  The  men  suf 
fering  from  vice  diseases  were  given  the  benefit 
of  the  best  possible  treatment,  and  they  were 
held  largely  segregated  until  they  were  con 
sidered  clean  and  safe  to  go  among  their  fel 
low-men.  Their  curative  treatment  was  car 
ried  on  systematically  even  after  their  assign 
ment  to  organizations.  When  they  were  dis 
charged  from  the  service  it  can  be  safely  said 
of  the  men  with  vice  diseases  that  many  of 
them  were  sent  back  no  longer  active  menaces 
to  society  or  unfit  to  become  the  fathers  of  a 
race. 

Taking  the  defectives  as  a  class,  as  they  came 
out  of  the  development  battalions,  the  change 
in  appearance  was  remarkable.  They  were 
entirely  different- appearing  men.  They  had 
found  themselves,  or  were  at  least  well  on  the 
way  to  so  doing.  Mind  and  muscle  were  bet- 


94  Leonard  Wood 

ter  co-ordinated.  There  had  been  a  great  im 
provement  in  all-around  physical  efficiency, 
and  a  marked  increase  in  mental  alertness  and 
power  of  concentration.  Of  course,  there 
were  a  considerable  number  who  never  became 
fit  for  military  service,  but  almost  without  ex 
ception  all  had  greatly  improved. 

Generally  speaking,  a  serious  effort  was 
made  to  hold  men  who  were  dangerous  to  so 
ciety  until  they  were  no  longer  so. 

The  mobilization  of  the  selected  men  of  our 
Nation  brought  to  our  attention  an  intolerable, 
unnecessary,  and  a  dangerous  condition,  dan 
gerous  to  us  and  to  the  race. 


ONCE  we  have  established  throughout  the 
land  proper  physical  training  in  our  schools, 
both  public  and  private,  the  training  which  will 
give  the  youth  of  the  country  erect  figures,  a 
proper  carriage,  proper  co-ordination  of  mind 
and  muscle,  the  work  in  the  training  camp 
will  be  much  easier  and  the  percentage  of 
men  fit  to  serve  their  country  much  greater. 
When  they  come  to  the  training  camp  for 
their  military  training,  combined,  as  I  hope  it 


On  National  Issues  95 

will  be,  with  some  form  of  industrial  and  voca 
tional  training,  they  will  receive  the  final  sys 
tematic  setting  up  and  corrective  work,  which 
will  send  them  back  to  their  communities  bet 
ter  men  physically,  and,  consequently,  of 
greater  economic  value,  better  men  from  the 
citizenship  standpoint  and  better  men  to  be 
the  fathers  of  a  nation — men  who  will  know 
that  their  sins  will  be  visited  upon  their  chil 
dren's  children,  men  with  a  better  appreciation 
of  the  clean,  decent  and  moral  life. 

Universal  training  for  national  service  is 
worth  all  it  may  cost  because  of  the  physical 
betterment  which  will  come  through  it,  because 
it  means  a  better  all-around  race  of  men  and 
consequently  a  better  people,  a  nation  with  a 
sound  mind  in  a  sound  body. 


ORGANIZED  GOOD  SAMAEITANS 


AMONG  the  most  remarkable  and  useful 
developments  of  the  war  has  been  the  growth 
and  broadening  of  the  field  of  effort  of  the 
American  Red  Cross  and  other  organizations, 
some  of  them  expressly  organized  to  meet  war 
conditions  and  all  of  them  directed  with  a  view 
to  sending  our  troops  overseas  clean  and  sound 
in  mind  arid  body,  and  to  helping  in  the  con 
duct  of  the  war. 

Generally  speaking,  their  work  has  been  ex 
ceedingly  well  done — done  with  an  effective 
ness  which  is  best  appreciated  by  those  who 
have  been  in  contact  with  the  troops  in  the 
great  training  camps,  ports  of  embarkation 
and  debarkation,  and  at  the  large  railway  dis 
tributing  centers. 

These  organizations,  individually  and  col 
lectively,  have  been  a  great  force  for  building 
up  morale,  and,  hence,  for  winning  the  war. 

97 


98  Leonard  Wood 

The  activities  of  these  organizations  have  been 
extended,  especially  those  of  the  Red  Cross. 
Its  efforts  have  not  been  limited  merely  to 
providing  nurses,  equipment  of  hospitals, 
preparation  of  surgical  dressings,  provision  of 
supplies  and  aid  for  the  sick  and  wounded. 
This  organization  has  gone  into  the  training 
camps,  established  itself  at  railway  stations, 
at  hospitals,  military  posts,  and  other  points. 
It  has  distributed  food,  clothing,  surgical 
equipment,  supplies  of  various  kinds.  It  has 
made  good  deficiencies  in  necessities.  It  has 
established  houses  and  rooms  for  recreation. 
It  has  been  an  agent  for  the  dissemination  of 
sound  propaganda  in  camps  at  home  and  in 
the  battle  area.  It  has  built  up  the  morale  in 
great  armies.  It  has  fed  families  behind  the 
line.  It  has  raised  enormous  sums  of  money. 
It  has  been  a  great  force  for  civilization  and 
humanity. 

II 

THERE  are  other  splendid  patriotic  or 
ganizations,  such  as  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  the 
Knights  of  Columbus,  Salvation  Army,  Y.  W. 
C.  A.,  Jewish  Welfare  Board,  War  Camp 
Community  Service,  Camp  Activities,  and 


On  National  Issues  99 

others  which  have  also  done  yeoman  service  in 
many  fields. 

The  days  of  active  field  service  are  practi 
cally  at  an  end,  as  far  as  our  forces  are  con 
cerned.  The  Army  is  home  and  work  in  its 
behalf  will  soon  be  reduced  to  comparatively 
insignificant  proportions.  The  question  arises 
—what  are  going  to  be  the  peace-time  activi 
ties  of  the  Red  Cross  and  of  the  other  organi 
zations?  Their  work  must  not  cease.  Mil 
lions  need  their  services  in  this  country.  Great 
natural  disasters  will  occur  in  the  future  as  in 
the  past.  It  is  reasonably  certain  wars  will 
occur.  The  Red  Cross  should  be  organized 
and  prepared  to  meet  promptly  and  effectively 
the  demands  made  upon  it. 

Our  Red  Cross  must  be  essentially  an  Amer 
ican  organization  if  it  is  to  be  strong  and  have 
the  spirit  which  comes  from  nationality.  It 
will  be  called  upon  from  time  to  time  to  meet 
calls  for  help  in  various  parts  of  the  world. 
It  must  be  prepared  to  respond  to  them  in  the 
energetic  and  generous  manner  which  charac 
terized  it  in  the  recent  war.  To  do  this  it  is 
essential  that  the  organization  be  maintained 
upon  an  effective  basis. 


100  Leonard  Wood 

m 

THE  peace-time  demands  for  what  we  con 
sider  normal  Red  Cross  work  are  a  simple 
problem  for  the  present  great  organization, 
with  its  millions  of  members;  but  even  these 
cannot  be  met  effectively  unless  the  organiza 
tion  is  continued  upon  an  efficient  basis  and 
well-thought-out  plans  prepared  in  advance  to 
meet  possible  emergencies. 

The  work  of  the  Red  Cross  during  the  war 
has  been  a  wondeful  work,  beneficial  not  only 
to  suffering  humanity,  but  helpful  and  broad 
ening  to  those  who  have  taken  part  in  it.  A 
wonderful  machine  has  been  developed,  em 
bodying  much  of  the  best  ability  of  our  people. 
Why  should  we  not  amplify  the  field  of  activ 
ity  of  this  and  the  other  great  organizations, 
with  their  splendid  spirit  of  service,  with  their 
millions  of  enthusastic  members  and  support 
ers  ?  Why  should  we  not  make  use  of  this  tre 
mendous  force  in  solving  some  of  our  great 
problems  at  home? 

If  we  can  hold  these  organizations  together, 
or  the  greater  portion  of  them,  and  direct  the 
energies  of  the  splendid  men  and  women  who 
have  done  so  much  to  help  our  soldiers,  sailors 


On  National  Issues  101 

and  marines  during  the  war  and  to  aid  suffer 
ing  humanity  overseas  to  bettering  the  condi 
tions  in  the  slums  of  our  cities,  among  the  poor, 
and  among  the  industrial  workers,  results  of 
inestimable  value  could  be  attained — results 
which  will  make  for  better  relations  between 
capital  and  labor. 

IV 

UNITED  effort  on  the  part  of  these  or 
ganizations  for  real  Americanization,  for  the 
establishment  of  better  social  and  industrial 
conditions,  will  deprive  the  professional  agita 
tor  of  his  following  and  will  bring  the  people 
from  the  different  walks  of  life  into  a  more 
sympathetic  understanding  and  tend  to  build 
up  that  which  makes  for  a  Brotherhood  of 
Man.  We  must  go  into  the  highways  ctnd  by 
ways  as  have  the  practical  missionaries  and 
organizations  of  some  of  our  churches  and  so 
cieties;  as  the  Salvation  Army  has.  Ameri 
canization  and  betterment  work  are  not  accom 
plished  by  the  building  up  of  idle  organiza 
tions,  by  after-dinner  speeches,  but  by  practi 
cal  work — work  which  carries  with  it  the  hu 
man  touch.  We  wish  our  unassimilated  citizens 
to  know  what  our  Constitution  and  institu- 


102  Leonard  Wood 

tions  mean;  what  America  stands  for.  We 
want  them  fed  on  American  ideas  and  ideals 
and  not  on  the  dangerous  teachings  of  a  dia 
lect  press.  We  desire  them  to  come  under  the 
leadership  of  Americans  and  not  under  that  of 
those  who  neither  understand  nor  sympathize 
with  our  institutions. 

The  existing  spirit  of  unrest  springs  in  part 
from  conditions  which  need  remedying,  in  part 
from  vicious  and  false  leadership  and  in  part 
from  the  organized  dissemination  of  unsound 
and  dangerous  doctrines  under  the  guise  of  lib 
eral  ideas.  These  conditions  can  be  largely,  if 
not  wholly,  done  away  with  if  the  organiza 
tions  which  have  done  so  much  during  the  war 
attack  them  with  the  energy  and  intelligence 
with  which  they  attacked  the  war  problems.  It 
is  no  time  now  to  let  these  organizations  fall 
to  pieces,  but  rather  to  redouble  their  efforts, 
so  that  America,  strong  and  united  at  home, 
may  stand  prepared  to  play  her  part  in  the 
world  as  we  would  have  her  play  it. 


No  PARLEY  WITH  THE  REDS 


THERE  is  room  in  this  country  but  for 
one  flag,  and  that  is  the  American  flag.  Put 
down  the  red  flag.  It  stands  for  nothing 
which  our  Government  stands  for. 

It  is  against  everything  we  have  struggled 
for.  It  is  against  the  integrity  of  the  family, 
the  State,  the  Nation.  It  only  floats  where 
cowards  are  in  power.  It  represents  every 
thing  we  want  to  avoid. 

These  are  times  of  dangerous,  subversive 
psychology.  The  barriers  between  ordered 
government  and  chaos  are  down  in  some  na 
tions  and  trembling  in  others.  We  must  stand 
squarely  on  our  feet  here.  Avoid  the  dan 
gerous  doctrines  of  the  hour  which  are  mas 
querading  under  the  banner  of  "Liberal  Ideas 
and  Progress." 

This  is  no  time  now  for  undertaking  new 
theories.  The  world  must  once  more  get  on 
an  even  keel  and  settle  down  after  the  up- 

103 


104  Leonard  Wood 

heavals  of  the  Great  War.     It  is  time  now  to 
keep  our  feet  on  the  ground. 

Experience  in  the  training  camps  brought 
out  very  forcibly  the  desirability  of  having  but 
one  language  in  our  graded  public  schools,  and 
that  language  should  be  the  language  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  of  the  Consti 
tution,  of  Washington,  Jefferson,  Lincoln, 
Cleveland  and  Roosevelt.  It  is  the  language 
of  the  best  democracy. 


II 


THERE  is  an  element  of  discontent  abroad 
that  is  threatening  to  break  down  govern 
ments  and  substitute  chaos.  It  is  important 
that  we  shall  be  steady,  and  I  can  say  that  in 
this  country  95  per  cent  of  us  are  steady. 

W^e  have  no  time  for  the  new  theory  and  no 
desire  to  listen  to  too  much  new  preaching. 
We  must  keep  our  eyes  on  the  ground  ahead 
of  us  and  our  stride  steady,  and  stand  by  the 
Constitution.  It  has  looked  at  times  as  if  every 
step  we  have  taken  was  leading  to  chaos,  but 
the  world  will  settle  down. 

We  are  going  to  govern  this  country  by 
Americans  and  will  have  law  and  order.  By 


On  National  Issues  105 

Americans  I  mean  men  who  are  living  up  to 
the  ideals  and  traditions  of  the  country.  The 
foreigners  must  be  recognized.  Through  their 
part  in  the  war  they  have  built  up  a  great  spirit 
of  American  solidarity.  They  have  stood 
shoulder  to  shoulder  with  us  to  serve  our  coun 
try.  It  has  been  a  military  age  and  the  war 
has  been  of  some  use.  It  has  given  us  the 
flame  to  fuse  the  people  into  a  class  of  Ameri 
cans.  There  are  problems  ahead,  but  we  are 
going  to  solve  them.  All  that  is  needed  are 
two  things — courage  and  common  sense. 
What  we  want  to  do  is  to  drive  home  to  these 
people  the  meaning  of  law  and  the  meaning 
of  liberty. 

in 

THE  big  issue  today  is,  first  and  foremost, 
maintenance  of  law  and  order,  respect  for  con 
stituted  authority  and  maintenance  of  a  gov 
ernment  under  the  Constitution. 

Ninety-five  per  cent  of  American  labor  is 
on  the  square  and  wants  to  run  straight. 
Where  it  is  running  wrong  it  is  under  bad 
leadership.  Give  labor  American  leadership. 
Don't  allow  it  to  drift  into  the  hands  of  anar 
chistic  Red  leaders.  As  for  the  Reds,  let's 


106  Leonard  Wood 

stamp  them  out.  They  grow  only  in  commu 
nities  where  government  is  timid  and  slack. 
They  are  a  cowardly  lot,  assassins  and  murder 
ers  often,  cowards  always.  With  them  go  the 
I.  W.  W. ;  their  brand  is  treason. 

We've  got  to  follow  up  our  immigrants 
more  closely.  Why  not  instruct  them  in 
Americanism  ?  When  they  get  over  the  gang 
plank  the  literature  of  the  Reds  is  placed 
in  their  hands.  Let's  meet  them  with  the  liter 
ature  of  Americanism. 


IV 


IT  seems  to  me  that  the  watchword  today 
is  "steady."  We  must  do  all  we  can  to  give 
a  square  deal  to  both  capital  and  labor,  to 
push  forward  good  business  and  increase  pro 
duction.  We  must  also  make  a  much  more 
serious  and  thorough  effort  to  Americanize  the 
immigrant  who  comes  to  us. 

I  found  throughout  the  disturbances  at 
Gary,  at  Omaha,  and  in  the  coal  fields  that 
these  aliens  were  well  supplied  with  the  litera 
ture  of  destruction,  and  that  they  had  barely 
been  touched  by  Americanizing  influences. 

The  necessity  is  upon  us  of  promptly  get- 


On  National  Issues  107 

ting  rid  of  the  alien  or  naturalized  Red  either 
by  deportation  or  proper  legal  procedure  and 
of  emphasizing  the  vital  importance  of  the 
maintenance  of  law  and  order,  respect  for 
property,  arid  the  rights  of  the  individual. 

The  destructive  group  is  small  but  well  or 
ganized.  The  danger  from  within  is  not  alone 
from  the  Reds,  but  from  our  own  indifference. 
We  must  impress  upon  all  these  new  people, 
and  our  own  who  have  become  disaffected,  that 
true  liberty  is  found  within  the  law,  and  never 
outside  it. 


WE  are  very  proud  that  America  has  been 
called  for  generations  "the  refuge  of  the  op 
pressed/'  Let  us  be  very  careful  to  see  that 
America  doesn't  become  the  dumping  ground 
of  the  degenerate.  What  is  the  use  of  bring 
ing  these  people  in  here  who  are  unfit  to  be 
citizens,  who  are  moral  degenerates,  or  de 
scendants  of  criminals?  It  isn't  enough  to  be 
physically  sound.  I  think  we  must  take  bet 
ter  care  of  our  immigrant  when  he  arrives.  He 
is  met  today  by  the  literature  of  the  Reds.  His 
foot  is  hardly  over  the  gangplank  before  he 
begins  to  receive  destructive  literature.  I 


108  Leonard  Wood 

think  we  want  to  take  hold  of  him,  hold  on  to 
him  for  a  while,  teach  him  something  of  our 
institutions,  load  him  up  with  good  American 
literature.  Let  him  see  what  this  country 
really  is,  have  it  explained  to  him,  and  let  us 
try  to  arrange,  instead  of  allowing  him  to  set 
tle  in  racial  groups  fed  by  a  dialect  press  in 
our  cities,  to  influence  him  or  her  to  go  to  that 
section  of  the  country  where  his  or  her  pre 
vious  training  will  be  most  valuable.  In  other 
words,  we  have  got  to  take  hold  of  our  immi 
gration  a  little  more  systematically  and  a  little 
more  carefully. 


OUR  DUTY  TO  OUR  VETERANS 


WE  sent  our  men  abroad  with  every  pos 
sible  encouragement,  told  them  how  much  we 
thought  of  them,  the  splendid  mission  they 
were  going  on,  that  they  were  the  warriors  of 
civilization,  crusaders  in  a  holy  cause.  We 
showered  upon  them  everything  in  the  way  of 
praise,  encouragement  and  personal  attention. 
Committees  were  organized  to  look  after  them 
in  camp,  to  see  that  they  were  fed  en  route  to 
the  sea,  and  to  look  after  them  over  there.  In 
short,  we  did  everything  to  send  them  over  in 
the  best  possible  condition. 

They  have  done  the  work  they  were  sent  to 
do.  They  have  done  it  well,  done  it  with  sac 
rifice  and  great  losses.  They  have  fought 
splendidly,  and  those  who  died  gave  their  lives 
with  a  smile.  Their  reckless  courage  has 
aroused  the  admiration  of  all  Europe.  They 
have  seen  great  things,  they  have  felt  the  spirit 
of  the  great  adventure,  they  have  seen  men  die 

109 


110  Leonard  Wood 

for  an  ideal,  for  duty,  for  country.  They  have 
worn  the  uniform  with  credit,  lived  up  to  the 
best  fighting  traditions  of  our  military  serv 
ice,  and  now  they  are  back,  some  two  millions 
of  them.  No  sacrifice  has  been  too  great  for 
them.  Losses  have  not  staggered  them.  In 
return,  no  amount  of  trouble  and  care  must  be 
too  great  for  us. 

II 

IF  these  men  are  left  to  stand  in  idle  groups 
they  may  be  misled  by  the  lawless.  Neglected, 
they  will  ask  themselves,  "What  were  we  fight 
ing  for?  Who  are  these  people  for  whom  we 
offered  everything  and  who  now  forget  us?" 
We  must  not  fail  in  our  duty  to  these  men. 
We  have  preached  patriotism,  we  have  instilled 
the  spirit  of  sacrifice,  and  now  is  the  time  to 
show  that  we  meant  what  we  said.  Don't  let 
the  soldier  feel  that  now  that  the  fighting  is 
over  he  is  forgotten.  Too  often  that  has  been 
the  soldier's  fate.  We  must,  in  our  treatment 
of  these  men,  show  that  we  regard  the  soldier 
engaged  in  righteous  war  as  one  discharging 
the  highest  type  of  citizenship  duty. 

It  is  not  sufficient  to  have  big  public  recep 
tions,  it  is  not  enough  to  award  medals  and 


On  National  Issues  111 

decorations  through  local  communities.  All 
these  are  good  in  their  way,  but  we  must  do 
something  more ;  we  must  look  after  those  who 
need  looking  after.  We  must  carry  out 
through  our  local  committees  a  scheme  for 
proper  care  of  the  soldier  with  the  same  thor 
oughness  with  which  the  Government  is  at 
tempting  to  look  after  the  physical  and 
mental  restoration  of  the  crippled  and  unbal 
anced.  .  .  . 

in 

IN  hospitals,  in  the  convalescent  wards 
and  in  the  streets  are  small  groups  of  men 
—men  who  move  slowly  or  not  at  all,  wrecks 
of  what  were  once  strong,  upstanding  fellows, 
who  went  cheerfully  to  the  front  to  risk  all 
and  give  all,  if  necessary,  in  the  national  cause, 
in  the  cause  of  civilization  and  fair-dealing 
among  nations;  men  who  have  given  much- 
limbs,  sight,  hearing,  power  of  motion,  power 
to  do  a  man's  full  share  in  the  years  to  come. 
We  must  not  forget  that  they  played  a  man's 
part  and  played  it  greatly  for  a  short  but 
splendid  period,  and  that  the  obligation  is 
upon  us  to  see  that  everything  humanly  pos 
sible  be  done  in  giving  these  men  such  new 


112  Leonard   Wood 

equipment,  such  new  training  for  life's  work, 
as  the  shattered  limbs  and  dulled  senses  they 
have  left  make  possible. 

They  have  given  greatly  for  the  Nation  and 
for  Humanity.  Given  without  stint,  without 
selfishness,  without  thought  of  self,  and  we 
must  labor  greatly,  plan  wisely  and  provide 
generously  for  them,  not  only  as  a  matter  of 
simple  justice  to  them,  but  that  the  youth  of 
the  Nation  may  see  that  its  soldiers  are  not 
forgotten;  that  they  may  note  and  remember 
that  a  grateful  and  intelligent  people  are  car 
rying  on  to  the  end,  and  thereby  have  the 
spirit  of  service  strengthened  in  them. 


rv 


WITH  those  who  have  risked  all  and  given 
much  it  is  not  words  and  gifts  that  will  count, 
but  rather  the  protecting  care  and  careful 
training  which  will  carry  on  to  the  end  with  a 
purpose  single  to  making  them  again  useful 
members  of  society,  making  them  men  in  whose 
souls  the  fires  of  ambition  are  once  more  kin 
dled,  men  whose  sightless  eyes  see  again  a 
light  of  hope  and  whose  crippled  members  are 
once  more  taught  to  do  the  things  which  will 


On  National  issue*  113 

enable  their  masters  to  become  independent 
and  to  feel  that  they  are  once  more  useful 
members  of  the  community  in  which  they  live, 
that  life  still  holds  out  much  for  them.  The 
battle-fields  gave  them  up  reluctantly,  life 
came  back  into  their  veins  slowly,  and  it  re 
mains  for  us  to  inspire  their  souls  with  hope 
and  confidence  in  the  future. 


WE  must  not  forget  these  wrecks  of  men 
who  went  out  full  of  hope,  dreaming  of  gallant 
deeds,  of  honor  and  glad  home-comings,  look 
ing  forward  to  the  family  ties  which  are  in  the 
dreams  of  all  normal  men.  Crippled  and  shat 
tered,  many  of  them  feel  themselves  hopelessly 
unfit  for  life's  work,  and  that  they  are  but 
wreckage  drifting  with  the  tide. 

Not  only  is  it  important  from  the  standpoint 
of  national  morale  that  we  do  all  possible  for 
these  men,  but  it  is  most  important  from  that 
of  national  economic  efficiency. 

Success  in  overcoming  the  difficulties  and 
the  handicaps  resulting  from  wounds  often 
builds  up  a  very  real  pride  of  accomplishment 
and  carries  one  on  to  greater  effort  and  sur- 


114  Leonard  Wood 

prising  results — results  which  at  first  seemed 
unattainable  and  impossible;  and  out  of  de 
spondence  comes  a  cheerful,  conquering  spirit 
which  takes  the  man  over  the  top  again  to  vic 
tory,  and  in  so  doing  removes  many  a  center 
of  discontent  which  would  draw  to  itself  others. 


SOLDIERS  AS  LIFE- SAVERS 


WE  hear  a  great  deal  about  the  destructive 
work  of  the  soldier.  But  he  also  performs  a 
constructive  and  life-saving  work.  Starting 
with  Porto  Rico,  we  find  that,  principally  due 
to  the  efforts  of  a  medical  officer  of  our  Army, 
Dr.  Bailey  K.  Ashford,  tropical  anaemia,  or 
hookworm  disease,  as  it  is  ordinarily  called, 
has  been  about  eliminated.  Not  only  was  this 
discovery  of  value  in  Porto  Rico,  but  it  was 
made  use  of  throughout  our  own  Southern 
States,  with  a  result  of  revitalizing  and  re 
energizing  hundreds  of  thousands  of  people 
afflicted  with  this  disease.  The  annual  death- 
rate  in  Porto  Rico  alone  was  reduced  by  a 
number  exceeding  the  total  number  of  rnen 
killed  during  the  Spanish- American  War,  and 
a  recent  inquiry  made  of  all  planters  in  the 
island  with  reference  to  their  workers  indi 
cates  that,  in  their  opinion,  the  average  in 
crease  in  efficiency  is  60  per  cent — a  truly 

115 


116  Leonard  Wood 

startling  figure,  and  one  which  illustrates  very 
well  the  far-reaching  and  wonderful  effects  of 
sanitary  measures  and  preventive  medicine. 

n 

PASSING  on  to  Cuba,  here  we  have  the 
wonderful  discovery  of  Major  Walter  Reed 
and  his  associates,  Carroll  and  Lezear,  which 
resulted  in  discovering  the  method  of  trans 
mission  of  yellow  fever  and  the  means  of  con 
trolling  it,  and  the  eventual  elimination  of  that 
dread  disease  not  only  from  Cuba,  but  from 
all  the  American  troops,  with  the  resulting 
saving  in  life  which  runs  into  many  thousands 
each  year,  and  a  saving  in  money  so  vast  that 
it  is  difficult  to  estimate  it ;  for  the  days  of  yel 
low  fever,  with  the  consequent  quarantine, 
which  tied  up  the  movement  of  men  and  ma 
terials  throughout  the  entire  South,  limited 
the  movements  of  ships  coming  from  yellow 
fever  countries,  while  costly  disinfection  re 
sulted  in  an  expenditure  running  into  hun 
dreds  of  millions.  Indeed,  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  the  saving  from  yellow  fever  alone  every 
year  in  life  and  money  has  exceeded  the  cost 
of  the  Spanish- American  War  and  the  Philip 
pine  rebellion. 


On  National  Issues  117 

in 

IN  the  Philippines,  splendid  sanitary  work 
has  been  done  by  the  civil  government.  Beri 
beri,  one  of  the  most  dreaded  of  the  Eastern 
diseases,  has  been  done  away  with.  Malaria 
has  been  brought  under  control.  Infant  mor 
tality  has  been  halved.  Most  of  this  latter 
work  has  been  done  under  the  civil  govern 
ment,  but  the  foundations  were  laid  by  the 
medical  officers  of  the  Army,  who  at  first  had 
charge  of  the  work.  In  Panama  we  see  the 
direct  effect  of  this  work  in  the  completion  of 
the  Panama  Canal.  This  great  and  splendid 
piece  of  engineering,  remarkable  as  it  is  from 
an  engineering  standpoint,  and  conducted  with 
wonderful  efficiency  by  General  Goethals  and 
his  assistants,  could  not  have  been  built  had  it 
not  been  for  the  application  by  General 
Gorgas  of  the  results  of  the  sanitary  discov 
eries  made  in  Cuba,  which  made  it  possible  to 
carry  on  this  great  work  under  conditions  of 
health  which  equaled  those  anywhere  in  the 
United  States.  It  may  be  truly  said  without 
taking  one  atom  of  credit  from  the  engineers 
that  this  great  work  was  built  on  a  sanitary 
foundation.  Had  we  not  got  rid  of  yellow 


118  Leonard  Wood 

fever  and  learned  to  control  malaria,  the  death- 
rate  would  have  been  so  heavy  that  the  work 
could  only  have  resulted  in  our  hands  as  it  did 
in  the  hands  of  the  French,  for  nothing  demor 
alizes  working  forces  more  effectively  than 
great  epidemics.  They  are  worse  than  battles 
in  some  ways. 

IV 

THE  mobilization  on  the  Mexican  frontier 
was  not  without  its  great  and  lasting  benefits. 
It  enabled  us,  because  of  the  prevalence  of  ty 
phoid  in  the  Mexican  villages  and  along  the 
Rio  Grande,  to  insist  upon  general  typhoid 
inoculation  of  officers  and  men,  and  the  result 
has  been  the  removal  of  typhoid  from  the 
Army.  When  one  remembers  thousands  of 
cases  in  the  camps  of  the  Spanish- American 
War,  the  importance  of  this  discovery  is  ap 
preciated.  The  general  application  was  made 
possible  only  by  the  mobilization  of  troops  and 
in  the  struggle  to  protect  them.  So  it  was 
with  the  discovery  concerning  yellow  fever 
and  the  elaboration  of  the  methods  employed 
in  controlling  malaria.  The  results  of  these 
discoveries  are  now  all  of  general  application, 
not  only  to  the  population  in  our  own  coun- 


On  National  Issues  119 

try,  but  to  the  population  of  all  countries  in 
and  bordering  on  the  American  tropics,  as  well 
as  in  the  insular  possessions.  Not  only  were 
great  sanitary  results  secured  through  the 
military  arm  of  the  Government,  but  it  should 
be  remembered  also  that  it,  the  military  arm, 
established  and  maintained  a  civil  government 
in  Porto  Rico,  Cuba  and  the  Philippines,  and 
conducted  these  governments  with  great  suc 
cess — in  Cuba  up  to  the  point  of  the  transfer 
to  the  Cuban  people  of  a  completely  organized 
republic,  and  in  Porto  Rico  until  the  transfer 
to  the  American  civil  government;  likewise 
in  the  Philippines  the  military  authorities  were 
in  full  charge  during  the  most  trying  period 
and  turned  over  to  the  civil  commission  which 
followed  them  a  well-organized  government 
and  a  well-filled  treasury. 


OUR  PROGKAM  IN  A  NUTSHELL 


THE  war  is  over.  The  big  struggle  after 
the  war  is  on;  the  struggle  of  world- wide  com 
merce,  and  we  want  to  take  the  proper  inter 
est  in  building  up  a  merchant  marine.  We 
want  a  small  but  highly  efficient  army.  We 
want  a  first-class  and  ever-ready  navy.  We 
want  sound  public  opinion  behind  some  kind 
of  training  system.  We  don't  want  to  see 
this  country  ever  again  fall  into  such  condition 
of  utter  helplessness  that  she  cannot  immedi 
ately  become  a  force  to  be  felt.  Verbal  mas 
sage  is  a  very  charming  application  and  quite 
sedative  for  a  certain  length  of  time.  But 
sometimes  we  have  to  demonstrate  that  force 
is  within  us.  Sometimes  we  have  to  break  the 
peace  in  order  not  to  break  the  faith.  Some 
times  we  have  to  demonstrate  that  it  was  the 
blood  of  the  martyrs  which  was  the  seed  of  the 
church  and  not  their  words. 


122  Leonard  Wood 

ii 

WE  hope  those  times  will  be  few,  but  some 
time  they  may  come,  and  we  must  look  ahead 
always  to  a  sound  condition  of  national  organi 
zation  for  defense.  We  don't  want  in  this 
country,  and  we  won't  tolerate  for  a  moment, 
anything  of  a  militaristic  type.  What  must 
we  do  in  the  matter  of  the  reorganization  and 
establishment  of  our  defense?  Whatever  we 
do  we  are  going  to  do  it  upon  sound  American 
lines,  and  I  think  in  that  purpose  we  shall  have 
the  support  of  our  people  throughout  the 
country. 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


GROVER  CLEVELAND  met  issues  as 
they  arose,  never  shrinking  from  them.  He 
realized  that  in  a  democracy  there  must  be  a 
free  press,  honest  criticism,  and  pitiless  pub 
licity;  that  people  must  have  the  facts  if  they 
are  to  act  intelligently.  Like  Lincoln,  he  had 
absolute  confidence  in  the  good  sense  and  judg 
ment  of  the  people  once  they  understood  the 
issues  before  them.  He  realized  that  with 
out  public  opinion  little  could  be  accom 
plished. 

II 

IN  the  opinion  of  Grover  Cleveland,  there 
was  no  room  in  America  for  those  who  were 
part  American  and  part  something  else.  Like 
Roosevelt,  he  was  intolerant  of  shams,  detested 
snobs,  and  hated  insincerity. 

With  him  language  was  intended  to  convey 

123 


124  Leonard  Wood 

ideas  and  not  to  confuse  the  people.  He  was 
not  an  adept  at  verbal  messages.  He  believed 
in  the  Monroe  Doctrine  absolutely,  and  in  the 
last  words  of  his  inaugural  address  he  said 
the  genius  of  our  institutions  forbade  any  de 
parture  from  the  foreign  policy  commended 
by  our  history,  traditions,  and  prosperity.  He 
rejected  the  policy  of  our  sharing  in  foreign 
broils  and  ambitions  upon  other  continents, 
and  repelled  their  intrusion  here.  He  believed 
in  friendship  writh  all  nations,  entangling  al 
liances  with  none.  He  believed  in  national 
spirit,  and  was  not  a  believer  in  an  uncertain, 
weak  internationalism. 

ill 

HE  believed  in  a  square  deal  for  labor,  in 
establishing  the  fullest  and  best  possible  un 
derstanding  and  co-operation  between  labor 
and  capital.  He  believed  in  voluntary  arbi 
tration  of  their  differences,  and  to  that  end  he 
proposed,  in  his  message  of  April,  1886,  that 
steps  be  taken  looking  to  the  establishment  of 
a  Federal  settlement  of  differences  between 
employers  and  employed.  He  was  also  keenly 
interested  in  protecting  not  only  the  country, 
but  labor,  against  the  inroads  of  an  undesirable 
immigration. 


THEODORE  ROOSEVELT 


AMERICA  lost— indeed  the  world  lost- 
its  soundest  and  most  effective  advocate  of 
peace  when  Theodore  Roosevelt  died.  The 
soundest  and  most  effective  because,  while  hat 
ing  war,  as  do  most  normal  men,  he  realized 
that  the  peace  of  righteousness  is  often  main 
tained  through  preparedness — to  do  our  duty 
even  through  war,  if  necessary;  and  that  arbi 
tration  is  most  effective  when  a  nation  is  not 
only  right,  but  also  able  to  use  force,  if  needed, 
to  back  up  the  right.  He  understood  that  a 
nation  is  most  effective  as  a  force  for  peace 
and  for  justice  when  it  is  of  resolute  spirit  and 
understands  that  the  strength  of  right  must 
be  organized  against  the  day  when  it  may  be 
necessary  to  meet  the  force  of  wrong. 

He  understood,  as  few  have,  that  it  is  not 
enough  to  be  filled  with  the  spirit  of  sacrifice, 
to  have  lofty  ideals.  But  that  if  our  sacrifice 
is  to  be  effective,  if  our  ideals  are  to  be  real- 

125 


126  Leonard  Wood 

ized,  we  must  have  ready  the  necessary  force 
and  organization,  moral  and  physical.  To  him, 
empty  words  and  lofty  sentiments,  unsup 
ported  by  a  resolute  and  brave  spirit  and  a  de 
termination  to  do  one's  clear  duty,  were  hate 
ful  things,  contemptible,  dangerous  and  un 
worthy  of  an  upstanding  and  right-thinking 
people.  .  .  . 

H 

AS  time  passes  our  sense  of  loss  has  grown 
greater  and  greater,  and  more  and  more  our 
people  miss  the  voice  which  always  spoke  the 
truth,  the  voice  whose  wisdom  and  lofty  pa 
triotism  are  more  and  more  understood  in  these 
days  when  we  are  beset  by  the  temptation  to 
"listen  with  credulity  to  the  whisperings  of 
fancy,"  and  to  "follow  with  eagerness  the 
phantom  of  hope";  when  the  Constitution, 
which  is  the  foundation  of  our  liberties,  and 
the  wise  policies  which  have  contributed  to  our 
greatness  and  security  are  being  spoken  of  as 
archaic. 

in 

A  CLEAN  soul  in  a  vigorous  body — this 
was  the  impression  Theodore  Roosevelt  made 


On  National  Issues  127 

upon  me  at  our  first  meeting.  This  first  im 
pression  never  changed,  but  rather  grew  as  the 
years  went  on.  We  had  many  tastes  in  com 
mon.  We  loved  the  simple  and  strenuous  life, 
and  had  that  common  understanding  and  ap 
preciation  of  many  things  which  drew  us 
closely  together. 

Though  a  many-sided  man,  gifted  in  many 
ways,  his  was  a  simple  and  open  character. 
He  sometimes  impressed  one  as  thinking  aloud, 
so  frank  and  unreserved  was  his  conversation. 
His  absolute  candor  and  simple  directness  were 
sometimes  misunderstood,  by  those  who  did 
not  know  him,  for  impetuosity  or  even  ego 
tism,  for  he  spoke  of  himself  as  candidly  as  he 
did  of  others,  and  yet  he  was,  withal,  a  modest 
man.  He  had  a  keen  sense  of  humor  and  was 
quick  to  see  the  amusing  side  of  men  and 
events.  He  was  never  pessimistic  when  it  was 
humanly  possible  not  to  be.  He  realized  that 
optimism  and  pessimism  have  their  roots  in  the 
common  soil  of  trouble  and  uncertainty,  and 
that  the  one  grows  up  into  the  sunlight,  the 
other  down  into  the  darkness. 

His  plans  grew  generally  upward  and  were 
intended  to  be  seen  by  a  struggling  world  and 
to  cheer  men  on. 


128  Leonard  Wood 

IV 

WHILE  he  had  the  simplicity  and  direct 
ness  which  mark  a  really  great  man — one  that 
has  seen  enough  and  done  enough  to  realize 
how  small  he  is  after  all — yet  he  had  great 
personal  dignity,  and  could  interpose  a  most 
effective  barrier  against  undue  familiarity. 
He  had  a  wide  experience  in  many  fields  of 
activity,  where  he  had  been  brought  into  con 
tact  with  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  an 
experience  which  had  given  him  a  singularly 
wide  knowledge  of  human  nature  and  of  the 
good  and  weak  points  of  men.  He  was  equally 
at  home  in  the  mining  camp,  on  the  range, 
addressing  a  mothers'  meeting,  or  before  the 
Sorbonne.  This  because  he  was  always  natu 
ral,  always  himself.  While  intensely  Ameri 
can,  his  sympathies  were  as  broad  as  the  world. 


CONSIDERED  by  some  to  be  rash,  im 
patient  and  intolerant,  he  was,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  conservative  and  patient,  especially  in  a 
crisis,  always  seeking  advice  from  those  best 
fitted  to  give  it,  regardless  of  party  lines  or 
personal  relations.  Big  enough  not  to  fear 


On  National  Issues  129 

competition  or  comparison  with  the  best  men 
of  the  day,  he  strove  to  surround  himself  with 
the  ablest.  They  were  required  to  be  one  hun 
dred  per  cent  American,  and  to  have  qualifi 
cations  for  the  task  at  hand — nothing  more. 

He  understood  the  spirit  of  our  people,  and 
they  understood  him. 

VI 

HE  had  a  very  keen  and  human  interest  in 
that  great  producer  of  original  wealth,  the 
farmer.  He  was  interested  in  the  building  of 
a  merchant  marine,  and  distressed  at  the  ab 
sence  of  our  flag  on  the  seas ;  for  in  this  condi 
tion  he  saw  the  absence  of  a  merchant  fleet  in 
time  of  peace,  with  the  resulting  lack  of  a 
naval  reserve  in  time  of  war,  as  well  as  the 
loss  of  money  paid  to  foreign  shipping  for  the 
transport  of  our  products. 

As  President  he  pursued  an  unbroken  policy 
of  international  understanding  and  good  will. 
Arbitration  took  on  new  life,  as  the  numerous 
arbitration  treaties  made  while  he  was  Presi 
dent  testify. 

He  did  more  than  any  other  President  to 
make  the  world  realize  what  the  United  States 
stands  for  and  what  "government  of  the  peo- 


180  Leonard  Wood 

pie,  by  the  people,  for  the  people,"  means  to 
humanity. 

His  foreign  policy  was  firm  and  courteous, 
straightforward  and  steady,  enhancing  every 
where  respect  for  American  rights  and  Ameri 
can  honor.  .  .  . 

In  sending  the  battle  fleet  around  the  world 
he  demonstrated  that  the  Pacific  is  not  a  closed 
sea,  nor  the  exclusive  zone  of  influence  of  any 
Power. 

New  life  and  character  were  put  into  our 
consular  service.  A  Department  of  Com 
merce  and  Labor  was  created,  great  desert 
areas  were  reclaimed,  a  wise  policy  of  conser 
vation  of  our  natural  wealth  was  established- 
one  which  all  far-seeing  persons  will  follow, 
since  it  is  of  vital  importance  to  those  who 
come  after  us. 

VII 

AS  President  his  policy  was  one  of  prepa 
ration,  for  he  understood,  as  do  all  who  have 
learned  anything  from  the  lessons  of  history, 
that  a  war  prepared  for  is  often  a  war  avoided ; 
that  it  is  better  to  get  ready  for  war  and  not 
have  it  than  it  is  to  have  war  without  being 
ready  for  it.  ... 


On  National  Issues  181 

In  his  opinion  no  man  who  refuses  service 
to  the  limit  of  his  physical  and  mental  capac 
ity,  when  the  nation  calls,  whether  in  peace  or 
in  war,  is  fit  to  be  a  citizen.  It  was  impossible 
for  him  to  be  neutral  in  the  face  of  wrong. 

He  dreamed  dreams,  and  he  saw  visions ;  he 
worked  hard  and  played  hard;  he  put  his  soul 
into  whatever  he  did. 

He  was  a  many-sided  man,  but  four-square 
to  all  the  world;  soldier,  statesman,  scientist, 
student  of  nature,  scholar  and  writer  on 
many  subjects,  builder  of  standards,  patriot 
and  Christian  gentleman  —  a  man  whose 
watchword  wras  Duty,  whose  guiding  stars 
were  Truth  and  Humanity,  whose  life  was  one 
of  service  for  the  right,  for  country  and  for 
GOD. 

VIII 

IN  1897  he  came  to  Washington  as  Assist 
ant  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  He  was  at  the 
height  of  his  energetic  manhood,  thirty-eight 
or  thirty-nine  years  of  age,  physically  hard  as 
nails — a  fighter  who  was  beginning  to  worry 
the  faint-hearted  by  his  demands  for  vigor  in 
national  and  international  affairs — a  keen- 
visioned  and  patriotic  American  who  saw 


132  Leonard  Wood 

storm  clouds  ahead  and  realized  the  need  of 
making  ready  in  advance.  In  me  he  found  a 
keen  sympathizer,  for  I  had  seen  enough  of 
Washington  to  feel  that  we  were  rather  drift 
ing  with  the  tide  in  all  which  pertained  to  pre 
paredness  for  possible  trouble. 

From  the  very  beginning  of  our  acquaint 
ance  we  were  thrown  much  in  each  other's 
company.  We  were  both  fond  of  exercise  in 
the  open,  and  did  a  great  deal  of  tramping 
and  climbing  up  and  down  the  banks  and  cliffs 
of  the  Potomac,  where  it  was  rough  enough  to 
give  us  a  bit  of  hard  work,  and  took  long 
tramps  and  runs  in  such  rough  countiy  as  we 
could  find  about  Washington. 

IX 

I  WAS  then  a  young  medical  officer  in 
Washington — on  a  duty  which  took  me  fre 
quently  to  the  White  House  at  all  times  of 
night  and  day.  President  McKinley,  one  of 
the  best  and  most  lovable  of  men,  whose  real 
worth  and  character  were  too  little  understood 
by  many,  was  thoroughly  familiar  with  the 
views  of  his  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy 
and  my  own,  and  he  understood  and  appreci 
ated  them.  When  I  came  in  in  the  morning 


On  National  Issues  133 

he  would  laughingly  ask,  "Well,  have  you  and 
Theodore  declared  war  yet?"  and  I  sometimes 
replied,  "No,  Mr.  President,  we  have  not,  but 
we  think  you  should  take  steps  in  that  direc 
tion,  sir."  One  night,  after  we  had  been  talk 
ing  for  some  time  about  the  probability  of  war, 
the  President  said  with  great  seriousness,  "I 
shall  never  sanction  war  until  all  efforts  to  ob 
tain  our  ends  by  other  means  have  failed,  and 
only  wrhen  I  am  sure  that  God  and  man  ap 
prove.  I  have  been  through  one  great  war. 
I  have  seen  the  dead  scattered  over  many  bat 
tlefields — I  have  seen  the  suffering  and  I  do 
not  want  to  see  another  unless  the  cause  of 
right  and  humanity  make  it  necessary.  I  pray 
God  we  may  escape  it!"  And  hesitating  a 
moment,  he  continued,  "But  the  intolerable 
situation  in  Cuba  must  be  terminated,  even  if 
it  has  to  be  done  through  war."  The  Presi 
dent  at  that  time  was  bearing  bravely  the  heavy 
burden  of  serious  illness  in  his  family,  illness 
which  taxed  him  to  the  uttermost,  and  strug 
gling  against  a  peace-at-any-price  group;  but 
rapidly  reaching  the  conclusion  that  war  was 
inevitable. 


I  OFTEN  think,  as  I  look  back  to  those 


134  Leonard  Wood 

days,  how  little  the  President  was  understood, 
for  he  was  really  bringing  the  strongest  influ 
ences  to  bear  to  prepare  the  country  to  meet 
the  crisis  which  was  rapidly  approaching.  In 
purpose  he  and  his  young  Assistant  Secretary 
were  closer  together  than  either  realized  at  the 
time.  The  apparent  difference  between  them 
was  more  that  of  temperament  than  purpose. 

Then  came  that  ghastly  report  by  Senator 
Proctor,  based  on  his  personal  observation  of 
conditions  then  existing  in  Cuba ;  conditions  of 
concentration  of  the  starving  inhabitants  in 
camps  which  were  death  camps ;  camps  of  hor 
rors  unspeakable — a  report  which  aroused 
a  spirit  of  hot  indignation  throughout  the  Na 
tion  and  a  determination  to  terminate  these 
conditions.  Mr.  Roosevelt,  John  Addison 
Porter,  who  was  then  President  McKinley's 
secretary,  and  I  dined  with  the  Senator  at  the 
Metropolitan  Club  the  night  before  he  made 
his  speech,  and  heard  first-hand  the  substance 
of  what  he  was  to  say.  We  all  felt  sure  that 
it  would  result  in  action  on  our  part,  and  that 
the  action  would  be  war. 

It  was  about  that  time  that  Secretary  Long, 
much  exhausted  by  long,  hard  service  and  anx 
iety,  decided  to  take  a  short  leave.  The  Colo 
nel  and  I  always  took  an  afternoon  run  as 


On  National  Issues  135 

soon  as  he  could  get  out  of  his  office  and  I 
could  finish  my  work.  On  this  particular  day 
he  came  up  to  my  house  on  R  Street,  panting 
hard.  He  had  been  running  all  the  way  up 
Connecticut  Avenue.  As  soon  as  I  came  out 
on  the  steps  he  said:  "Leonard,  I  have  done 
some  real  work  this  afternoon.  Mr.  Long 
went  off  to  take  a  rest,  a  much-needed  rest." 
And  with  great  emphasis — "I  was  Secretary 
of  the  Navy  this  afternoon  for  some  three  or 
four  hours,  and  the  responsibility  for  action 
was  mine.  I  have  mobilized  everything  at 
Mare  Island,  at  League  Island ;  I  have  bought 
thousands  of  tons  of  coal  in  the  Far  East  for 
the  fleet;  I  have  directed  a  certain  concentra 
tion  of  ships  now  in  the  Far-Eastern  waters 
under  Dewey."  Then  he  stopped  a  minute 
to  catch  his  breath;  he  said,  "You  know,  I 
think  Mr.  Long  will  be  back  in  the  morning 
very  early,  but  I  have  done  what  I  could  to  get 
the  Navy  ready." 

Next  day  I  asked,  "Did  Secretary  Long 
come  back?"  "Yes,"  he  said,  "he  was  in  the 
office  earlier  than  he  had  ever  been  before,  and 
it  is  a  question  now  whether  I  am  sustained 
or  he.  I  think  the  President  is  going  to  sus 
tain  me."  And  he  did.  The  young  Assistant 
Secretary  of  the  Navy,  filled  with  the  convic- 


136  Leonard  Wood 

tion  that  war  was  upon  us,  and  realizing  the 
importance  of  being  ready,  unafraid  of  re 
sponsibility,  had,  in  his  short  period  of  full  au 
thority,  done  what  he  deemed  best.  Subse 
quent  events  proved  that  his  action  was  a  wise 
and  far-seeing  one,  one  of  far-reaching  effect 
in  securing  sea  control  in  the  Far  East  and 
victory  in  the  Philippines. 

XI 

IN  Cuba  the  Colonel's  fine  qualities  as  a 
leader  came  out.  He  was  perfectly  indiffer 
ent  to  danger,  so  far  as  he  himself  was  con 
cerned.  He  possessed  the  qualities  of  an  ex 
cellent  officer.  He  was  ever  on  the  alert  in  the 
matter  of  guarding  the  lives  of  his  men  and 
looking  after  their  welfare.  He  never  reck 
lessly  exposed  his  men.  He  was  always  look 
ing  after  their  interests.  He  had  those  fun 
damental  qualities  of  an  officer  which  lie  at 
the  basis  of  real  efficiency — that  is,  a  real  in 
terest  in  the  welfare  of  his  men.  He  was  very 
earnest  in  their  instruction,  very  careful,  very 
efficient,  and  very  thoughtful  of  their  lives  and 
of  their  morale.  If  there  was  anything  short 
in  the  regiment  and  you  could  not  find  Colo 
nel  Roosevelt,  you  knew  that  he  was  off  rus 
tling  up  something  for  the  men. 


On  National  Issues  137 

During  the  first  fight  we  were  in  he  was  con 
spicuous  for  gallantry,  always  looking  after 
weak  points  in  the  line  and  splendidly  cool; 
nothing  whatever  of  that  rather  characteris 
tically  rapid  and  impulsive  manner,  but  as 
well-balanced  and  cool  as  an  officer  ought  to 
be — always  on  the  alert  and  always  ready. 

XII 

AFTER  the  fight  at  Las  Guasimas,  we  had 
a  week  of  rest  before  the  big  fight  at  San  Juan. 
All  of  that  week  he  was  industriously  at  work, 
building  up  the  command  in  every  possible 
way.  Just  before  the  fight  I  was  given  com 
mand  of  the  brigade  and  he  succeeded  me  in 
the  regiment.  He  led  the  regiment  in  the  at 
tack  on  San  Juan  in  perfectly  splendid  fash 
ion.  He  was  cool  and  collected,  and  handled 
his  men  admirably.  In  the  long  days  of  the 
siege,  after  we  had  taken  the  heights,  he  was 
always  on  the  qui  vive.  I  do  not  remember 
ever  going  out  along  the  lines  that  I  did  not 
find  Colonel  Roosevelt  on  the  alert  and 
where  he  ought  to  have  been.  He  was  one  of 
the  keenest  soldiers.  He  had  the  same  quali 
ties  that  his  sons  have  shown  in  France  and 
elsewhere.  The  Colonel  had  an  inspiring  ef 
fect  upon  his  men.  They  almost  worshipped 


188  Leonard  Wood 

him.  He  had  that  rare  quality  which  made  his 
men  feel  that  they  were  doing  something  for 
him.  There  was  not  a  man  in  the  regiment 
who  did  not  swear  by  him.  If  it  was  a  cook  at 
a  campfire  he  would  stop  and  say,  "Well,  you 
gave  me  some  pretty  good  coffee  this  morn 
ing,  Brown,"  or  whatever  the  man's  name  was. 
Always  something  showing  appreciation  of  the 
other  man's  effort.  He  had  the  human  touch. 

After  we  had  taken  Santiago  he  came  back 
within  a  short  time  with  the  regiment.  You 
know  the  history  of  the  camp  at  Mont  auk. 

There  is  no  question  whatever  that  if  he  had 
had  an  opportunity  he  would  have  been  a  mili 
tary  leader  of  marked  distinction — a  military 
leader  fit  to  handle  large  forces.  He  was  thor 
oughly  official  (if  I  may  use  that  term)  in 
military  matters.  He  never  presumed  upon 
acquaintance  or  friendship.  There  could  not 
have  been  a  better  disciplined,  a  more  subordi 
nate  subordinate  than  Theodore  Roosevelt. 

XIII 

HE  inspired  the  kind  of  discipline  that  was 
portrayed  by  the  same  old  philosopher— the 
discipline  that  comes  not  from  fear  but  from 
respect — respect  for  the  leader  and  confidence 
in  him.  I  do  not  think  any  man  went  through 


On  National  Issues  139 

the  Spanish  War  who  had  his  men  more  sol 
idly  behind  him  than  Theodore  Roosevelt,  and, 
I  believe,  if  he  had  had  a  chance  later  on,  that 
he  would  have  gone  steadily  on,  with  splendid 
devotion  on  the  part  of  his  men,  and  with  that 
growing  leadership  which  would  have  made 
him  in  war  the  great  leader  that  he  was  after 
wards  in  the  battles  of  civil  life. 

I  shall  always  look  back  to  the  days  which 
immediately  preceded  and  to  those  which  cov 
ered  the  Spanish  War  period  with  the  greatest 
pleasure  and  satisfaction,  for  it  was  then  that 
I  learned  to  love  and  to  understand  this  man, 
whose  life  and  work  mean  so  much  to  Amer 
ica  and  to  the  world;  whose  ideals  and  policies 
—if  we  only  live  up  to  them — will  be  of  the 
greatest  value  to  us  today  and  in  the  days  to 
come,  for  he  stood  for  the  best  and  truest 
Americanism.  We  never  needed  him  more 
than  we  do  today. 

The  sympathy  and  understanding  which 
were  built  up  in  these  days  continued  through 
his  period  of  service  as  President,  and  during 
the  period  of  the  great  war.  One  could  not 
know  Theodore  Roosevelt  without  appreciat 
ing  his  rugged  honesty,  his  forgetfulness  of 
self  and  his  absolute  devotion  to  the  best  inter 
ests  of  this  country.  One  loyalty,  one  Ian- 


140  Leonard  Wood 

guage,  one  flag,  a  square  deal  to  all.     These 
were  the  things  he  stood  for. 

XIV 

HE  was  the  most  inspiring  character  in  our 
national  life  since  Lincoln.  His  last  message 
should  be  stamped  upon  the  heart  of  all  true 
Americans.  He  said  in  part: 

"I  cannot  be  with  you,  and  so  all  I  can  do 
is  to  wish  you  Godspeed.  There  must  be  no 
sagging  back  in  the  fight  for  Americanism  now 
that  the  war  is  over.  We  should  insist  that 
if  the1  immigrant  who  comes  here  does  in  good 
faith*  become  an  American  and  assimilate  him 
self  to  us  he  shall  be  treated  on  an  exact  equal 
ity  with  everyone  else.  There  can  be  no  di 
vided  allegiances  at  all.  We  have  room  for 
but  one  flag,  the  American  flag,  and  this  ex 
cludes  the  red  flag,  which  symbolizes  only  war 
against  liberty  and  civilization.  We  have  room 
for  but  one  language  here,  and  that  is  the  Eng 
lish  language,  for  we  intend  to  see  that  the 
crucible  turns  our  people  out  as  Americans, 
and  not  as  dwellers  in  a  polyglot  boarding- 
house,  and  we  have  room  for  but  one  loyalty, 
and  that  is  loyalty  to  the  American  people." 


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